Mortal Kombat: Cross Crisis
by LASTkNIGHT
Summary: WHATEVER IT WAS THAT MADE THE QUOTATION MARKS 'INVISIBLE', THE CHAPTER IS FIXED NOW. Johnny Cage tries to clear his debt with Kano through Sonya and Jax. While in ancient Japan Kenshi and Hanzo seek revenge seperately against Shang Tsun and Sub-Zero.
1. Johnny Kano

**New AUTHOR NOTES 7/23/10:** I FIXED THE CHAPTER, BECAUSE OF WHATEVER STUPID GLITCH ERASED SOME OF THE QUOTATION MARKS

**Author's Note:** This story is in the vein of something like Batman Begins. It WILL have supernatural elements but they will be played down (at first) in favor of story and character in order to invoke a real-world sense within the story.

**Synopsis: Two stories that will lead into (a new version of) the first Mortal Kombat, One focusing on Johnny Cage a failing actor, who gets in debt with the Black Dragon leader Kano - while he (Kano - who is in fact Japanese in my version) is under the investigation of the Special Forces. And the other focusing on the characters of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Kenshi and their time in Japan many centuries ago.**

Johnny Cage sped his hands across the freckled back of his house guest, burying his face in her chest. He brought his head up kissing her beautiful pink lips, feeling her tongue slide into his mouth. This was going to be the best night of his life he knew it. What he didn't know - and the actual truth, was it was to be the beginning of the worst night of his life.

He pushed her down into the cushions roughly.

To his horror, the door to his apartment peeled open at a slow creek and - the sound of the heel hitting the floor, the keys slapping up against the wall, and the light clicking on; could mean only one thing 'I'm fucked'. Anna looked directly at he and his mistress. Whose ruffled blonde head greeted her with a huge smile.

"Is she coming too?"

Anna's brown eyes pierced through Cage's forehead. Then she said, in that droll intelligent voice of hers, "Fuck you."

"So that means no, right?" The blonde piped, as Cage jumped off the love seat to follow his lover out the door. "What about me?" The girl asked.

"Shut the fuck up!" He said running out the door.

"Anna, Anna, Anna, listen to me."

"Fuck you!"

"I deserve it, I really do, ignori -"

"Deserve! You deserve to have your fucking dick chopped off, you fucking bastard!"

He made a beeline, blocking her at the stairwell, "That wouldn't be much fun now would it?" he teased.

She made a move at him but didn't finish, he flinched, "Don't test me..."

"Okay, alright," he said practically cupping his crotch. "I'm just looking for a little mercy?" He said to her as she passed him down the steps, "Well look elsewhere."

"HEY, I'm SORRY - FUCK!" The door slammed.

The blond stood behind him wearing only a buttoned up shirt. He turned to look at her looking only mildly interested.

"This is only a one night thing... You know that right?" He asked her coldly.

"No, I don't. Because this is a no-night thing - Johnny" She slid her hand across his shoulder blades, then just as before, the girl passed him by, making her way down the steps.

"Hey! It's John goddamn it! It's JOHN! - This fuckin' Johnny crap! - That's my shirt! HEY! What about your shit?"

She waved good-bye to him without looking back, as she got down the last step. A man walked through the front door holding it open as she left, his eyes clasped onto her body and she grabbed him by the shirt, leading him away.

"Goddamn it..."

The ball glided along furiously through the smear of red and black. Kano's casino was in the basement of Akira's in southern "Chinatown" a small Japanese restaurant with few visitors - to the upper floors at least. Everyone in the city came to the basement for a chance to gamble their money. Or to be with one of the business' lovely ladies. Though some were undoubtedly there for any other of the establishments more extreme market items.

The ball landed on black and Cage let out a war cry, balling up both fists, and spewed a defiant screaming laugh.

"YEAH!" he slid a hand across his tie, "Now that my friends, is a win. Can I get another drink over here?"

A hand landed on his shoulder and one of the bouncer's got in his face, as if informing a child; "We need to talk to you."

His arms shake at them, in defense, as they throw him into the leather seat, in his drunken stumble he manages to sit pretty straight. Kano stands with his back to him, cigar smoke permeating the air in front of his face.

Kano's small office was notorious amongst the gambler's there, it was were every deed was carried out. Every deed.

Kano took an object from his pocket, it made a piston noise before a large blade ejected from it's base. Bringing up his arm, he slammed it down into the black desk in front of him.

Finally he turned to John.

"We have a problem..."

"I know and I realize that-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Okay..." John said in a genuine fear.

"Now... I've got friends in high places, I've got friends in low places... and I've got some friends that are useless to me. The problem is, when I meet them I'm usually unsure which one of these three things they are. You for example; are degenerate fuck-up gambling alcoholic: low place," he brought his hand down in demonstration, his words caused Cage to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "On the other hand your also a highly paid actor with a lot of friends who have a lot of money - and like to gamble. - And people like you." he brought his hand up, "High place..."

He made a U-turn coming back around to his desk, stripping the knife from it. "Then again," he said touching the tip of the blade, "you come in here, gamble away all your money - then when you owe me, you return to gamble some more, risking me the money... you already owe. Useless." He said cutting across the air.

Cage rose from his seat, "Riiiiiight so obviously - I shouldn't be here and... I'm just gonna' go!" he said pointing to the door.

One of Kano's henchmen pulled a gun, pushing John back into his seat.

"Okay," Cage said opening his arms, "I had a rough night, but I won at the roulette table so now I can pay you back a little bit of the money I owe you."

"I don't want you paying me with my money you fucking jag-off!"

"Well I did win it so technically..." the gunman slapped the barrel across Cage's teeth. Who belts out; "That's not fair! Goddamn it! I'm drunk... you fuckin.. whatever."

As Kano spoke, his henchman reached into Kano's pockets for chips and money.

"NOW, normally. I'd start cutting off your fingers. Personally, at this point I'd rather cut off your cock..."

"That seems to be... popular opinion now days." Cage said nodding.

"But I need you to make money, and you won't be able to - given the movies you make, if I cut you off at the knuckles. I'm giving you one chance; make a deal that's golden and pay me with your cut, or I'll pay you with mine." He said holding up the knife.

"How'm I supposed to do that, Kano? I'm box office poison, all the papers got it plastered, I think my last movie made like three dollars domestically."

"I don't care if you have to make 'Johnny Cage and Slut named Paige' if you do; you pull your cock out and make me my fuckin' money, or you've got real problems... Now get out of my office."

The next day John stood at the backlot of the studio, waiting for his producer Edward Nikols to arrive. An intelligent but self-absorbed business man with a knack for not listening - or at least not caring - very much, and talking more than anyone could care to listen

He came out the door left of Johnny, when he spotted him he greeted with a genuine smile and shook Cage's whole arm, "HEY! Jack, how're you?" a couple of guys pass them by, Nikols turns to them "Hey all catch up with you guys later... John - looking for that big comeback, I know it's here, we just gotta work it out man, I've got the perfect scenario. I call it 'The Bomber' it's about a guy -"

"Ed, Ed, look. I did come here to ask if you could help me out - you know - with a film deal? But I was sitting out here and I was just thinking; maybe not so many explosions this time you know?"

Nikols raised his eyebrows, "What're you talking about, you're an action star, man, that's what people expect from you."

Almost disgustedly; Cage turned away, "I know that's what people expect from me! Shit... Why do you think I wanna' do something else? You know what else people expect from me? Stupid behavior, drunk driving, shit like that. That I'm just some self-oriented rich guy with no empathy for anyone... I can be compassionate."

"What are you talking about? You don't want to do action?" Nikols was a good guy, for the most part, but naive to a fault. Cage had run into a lot of them... 'Hollywood Types'. Except most of them weren't good guys.

"No... no, I'm talking about... I don't know what I'm talking about. Look I need money. And I'm not going to get it doing the same shit I've been doing. If we go the same route we went before - and before failed - what's going to happen this time?"

"You're in debt?"

"Yeah with Kano."

Nikols sighed deeply, "Look I'll give you some money."

"I don't want you're fuckin' money," Cage erupted, "I don't want it. My life was ruined by superficial nonsense I'm trying to fix it on my own - okay?"

"Okay... yeah." he put a hand on his shoulder, "look, I'm your friend okay? Just come to me for anything..."


	2. The Sub Zeroes' Scorpion

The cave was a damp tomb. A dark fortress of irritable silence, yet still echoing within it's bowels; the screams of a thousand dead men, their souls taken by the Lin Kuei, their skulls littering the ground where men would walk - but only if they dared enter.

The sword swept through the air spilling blood across itself and the surrounding walls. It's wielder, Lin Kuei warrior, and killer, Ichiro, known to his clan as; Sub-Zero. He held the bloody sword out to the face of his victim. His brother Niro stood behind him, looking on in reserved amazement at the brutality of it all.

Hiroshi's blood melted through the rocks rising like a tide amongst the skulls, filling up between their teeth.

Sub-Zero's voice boomed through tunnel, it is authoritative and fierce "TRAITOR! You shame your ancestors!" Hiroshi raised his good arm in defense as Sub-Zero bore down on him with all his anger. "I wish you had never been honored with the entitlement bound to you by the Lin Kuei. You're father would have done to you what I am doing now!"

"Would he?" Said Hiroshi, "You do not see what you have become Ichiro, you are a killer... Even your brother sees this."

Ichiro looked to his brother whose eyes found him but did not react. "You dare tell me of my brother's sight. - From the mouth of a man who does not deserve his own tongue, let alone his eyes."

"I am not Shirai Ryu."

"SILENCE!"

"YOOOOUU SUB-ZERO are a MURDERER!" Hiroshi held onto his wound screaming much louder than anyone expected, with as much blood loss. "You have turned OUR clan into MURDERERS that is why I have betrayed you! My father would never have let the Lin Kuei become what it is today! Heed my words Ichi... I have seen your future, if you do not choose carefully the lives you take, then your heart will blacken, and so will your soul, and you will be left as NOTHING but a hatred filled WRAITH!"

"I have chosen!" he said calmly.

Ichi's sword clanged against the rock as it severed Hiroshi's head from his body. He sheathed his weapon and walked out of the cave into the cold winter. His brother followed him out. Grabbing him by the arm. Ichiro held his position, wondering about his brothers anxiousness.

"You are not going to say anything?" his brother asked him.

"What?" he could see his brother's eyes were filled with frustration, he was young, idealistic, weak, "I did not choose to end this - Hiroshi did."

"What did he do? I have known Hiroshi since I was seven, he looked after me. I don't even know why he is dead..."

"He gave the position of our training grounds to the Shirai Ryu."

"The Shirai Ryu have no reason -" Niro is caught off guard by Ichi's sudden anger, as he turns around, grabbing him, pushing him forward intimidatingly.

"They don't need a reason Niro - they are our sworn enemy. They exist to destroy us... as we them."

"You can't believe that." His brother said standing at the lake. "You can't make me believe that."

"You have to," Ichiro said marching on, "or all of us will die."

The lake had been frozen by winter. Niro stood in the center, looking down into the ice.

Inside the water was a blur, but he could see fish moving around below. He thought about his brother, and Hiroshi, and the Lin Kuei. What would become of the clan. He stood in silence, extending his left hand, as he did he could feel the cold moist air closing in around it, the sword that formed in his hand was the perfect weight for a Kendo stick, he held it in front of him. Letting out a roar as he swiped forward. Swinging it again and again until his arms burned. His practice lasted the entire night.

Hanzo Hasashi had been a farmer, but the land was scarce and the taxes were high. The only way to pay his debt was to join the Shirai Ryu. An idea his father disapproved of greatly, and let him know it, at every available opportunity.

"Did you know?" His father asked him cooking his food, "that a man informing the Shirai Ryu, a spy in the Lin Kuei, was murdered yesterday? Do you really think he got that way planting in the rice fields."

"I do not know how he got that way father, and neither do you."

"I think I do," the eighty-one year old said to him, "and so do you." He handed him his bowl of food.

"Come now. I will always be younger than you - I cannot help that, but I am certainly a grown man by now. And I'm told; a valuable warrior."

"All the more reason for me to worry. The best swimmer swims the farthest, and the farther you swim, the easier it is to let the wave take you, and with it; the sea."

Hasashi gripped his bowl tightly, "My daughter is starving, and my wife is desperate," his eyes glossed over, "we have no food, little water, and no means to pay our bills. I look into the eyes of my women and I see a hopelessness that they cannot hide from me. I have a responsibility to protect them at all costs. As I recall, you had no one when you joined their clan."

"And you wish to repeat my mistakes? I have been paying for that one decision my entire life. The nightmare you have, you will never get over them. And to bring a family into it, I can only imagine the suffering. I beg you to choose differently."

"I have chosen."

"What?"

"The choice was already made, I can't sit idly and watch my family die."

His father was aback with insignificance, he felt awkward weak, and powerless, none of which he had ever felt before. "You... you have no idea what you have... done." His voice trembled.

"F-father I..."

His father held up his hand, kneeling at the nearest table.

"You want me to leave..." Hasashi assumed.

His father looked up at him from his weakened state, "I do not know what I want from you right now... Does it even matter?"

"I suppose not." Feeling both betrayed, and guilty Hasashi left his father's home.


	3. Movie Deal Mystery Girl Missing Fingers

Anna was Cage's one time partner, agent, and lover. She sat down, in a more or less appealing black business suit, with a skirt; knee length, placing her cellphone on the table next to her coffee. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her eyes fell on his slightly bruised lip.

"Huh," she said biting her lip, "I don't remember doing that."

"Hardy-harr," he said sarcastically, pressing a napkin to the wound "It was Kano. Well one of his goons or something, - I don't know I was really drunk at the time."

"Wow," she said angrily, "This conversation is starting off nicely." Her eyebrows jumped.

"Okay, look." He breathed in, his elbow on the table, putting his fingers on his head, "I'm really, really, hung-over, and I don't want to bullshit you, and I know I did wrong but I'm asking you to just, please try and give me another chance because last night was kind of a wake-up call for me." He struggled with the realization that that was going to be the longest winded sentence he could muster - and there was so much more to that.

"John -"

"Can I have your autograph?" A woman holding a baby carriage came over, she didn't have a baby with her, but a young girl, about thirteen. "Me and my daughter we saw you were-"

"GODDAMN IT! Can't you see that I'm- right -in the MIDDLE of a conversation here? It's important..."

"Your movies suck!" The woman told him, hauling away the baby carriage.

"You see that; you have no self control. Just like the blond slut in your room, just like the gambling, the drinking..."

"Don't you think slut's kind of a strong word?"

She put on her glasses rising from her seat. "Bye."

He followed her up "I'm sorry. Er, I'm saying I'm sorry - I've been trying to say I'm sorry."

"I know, but not right now." she said trying to walk away, he held her there.

"Why?"

"It's too soon."

He let go, "You look REALLY good..."

"I didn't do it for you. I'm meeting with Paramount, that's why I have to go."

As she walked away he could feel the ominous stare of the woman at the stool against the wall, to his left. "What?" He asked bluntly.

"Women problems, huh?" Her voice was very droll, like Anna's, but with a slight rasp, smoky, and less refined. "I have the same problems. - Not with women, though, I should add. I meant in relationships." she had blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, azure.

"Do I know you?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"No, but I know you're Johnny Cage. I don't watch your movies though, because I'm not really into that kind of stuff." she suddenly got real animated, "Explosions and car chases and suitcases full of uranium!" she muttered and laughed the word; "stupid..." shaking her head.

"You started this conversation to make fun of my career? What're you a journalist?"

"Oh no, It's just you seem like a cool guy in person, I just wanted to be straight with you so it didn't drive a wedge in the conversation later on. You want to have a seat?"

He pointed to the door, ready to say something about Anna. But before he could get anything out -

"Forget it, man." She said pouring sugar into her drink, stirring it hypnotically "It ain't cheating if she's not with you, right? Besides, I'm not that easy." she tapped the edge of the cup with her spoon.

He lowered his eyebrows, thinking for a bit, but decided he couldn't argue with her logic, and sat down.

"There, see? No problem." she shrugged, hands over shoulders.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that won't we?"

"I guess so. I see you're not winning celebrity of the year - You don't have to apologize for it, I would have done the same thing. There's nothing I enjoy more than being left alone."

"So why'd you want to talk to me?"

"I get lonely... So being a celebrity must be tough, - meeting people, having everybody think they know you already."

His cocky swagger has worn thin since last night, his current state has humbled him - if only briefly, "Well, I'm hardly a celebrity. Another year of this crap and people won't remember who I am. - I'll be the next Jean Claude Van Damme."

"I was thinking Steven Seagal."

They both laugh. "Well thanks..." he said with mild sarcasm.

"Look, I'm not a movie critic. They probably aren't THAT -"

"Naw, they suck..." she nearly spits out her drink laughing with him. "I'm serious, they're terrible movies. I wouldn't wanna watch 'em." her laugh is silent but she can hardly breathe. She holds her chest coughing against her cappacino. "I don't know why I make 'em anymore - I don't know why I ever made them. Well... no, I know, I guess I know..."

"Old habits..."

"Exactly. I'm still trying to figure out though, if you don't like my movies, why... would you want to talk to me?"

She spins on her stool to face him more directly, slapping her hand down on the table, "As a fellow martial artist, I respect your work. I saw your last tournament. And that - was fuckin good."

"Fuckin good - w-wow fuckin good, not _good_ - **fuckin** good, I like that. - You're a martial artist?"

"Born fighter, I've got it tattooed on my left ass-cheek."

"Really!" He smiled, trying to pretend that wasn't weird.

"Abso**-**lutely not... that was a joke... No, I've had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do since I was seven. Kenpo..." she said nodding, "You know - stuff."

"Won tournaments?" He asked her.

"Ever since I was a child."

"Shit!" He jumped to his previous table, snatching a briefcase out from under it. She followed him as he stood up.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, I gotta get the fuck out of here. It was nice talkin' to you." he shook her hand.

"Don't you want to know my name?"

"Of course I do," he said putting on his jacket, "I forgot - I'm in a hurry."

"It's... Elizabeth, Kerry."

"Well, I'll call you."

"I'll call you." She insisted rather suddenly. "My number's not listed, yours should be easy to find."

They said goodbye to each other, and he left.

Kano stepped off the back of the truck into a puddle of water, dropping his cigarette into it and crushing the stub with his foot. He looked back inside, where a significant portion of space was walled up by bricks of heroin. "It's good." He said blowing his last plume of smoke. They closed up the back, walking towards his car.

"That was easier than I'd of expected," one of his men told him, "Vietnamese don't seem very trustworthy."

"Yeah," said Kano looking away to nothing in particular, he looked back at him, "give me your gun." The man didn't ask questions, he gave it up. Kano pulled back the slide, when the safety clicked out of place, the man realized he'd made a terrible mistake.

BLAM! His thigh burns, and the red hot liquid slid across his leg as he tumbled down. Kano bent over slightly, talking quietly to him. "I know, you're not who you say you are. I know, you're working for someone, I just don't know who. Whether you die here tonight is not up to you. You and I both know what's going to happen to you. The point is, it can be quicker than this, if you let it be. We also both know I'm going to find out what organization you're working for, whether you tell me or not. But if you don't; when I find out where it is... I'm going to bomb that place, and every other place bearing it's insignia."

Some of Kano's men got into the heroin truck and, the drug runners got into their cars leaving Kano and a small group alone, in a very dark place at the docks, outside of a warehouse. None of the lights were on, only the headlights from the cars illuminating their meeting.

"Kano - I - I never. I -"

"Kabal, hold him down." He instructed. A leathery skinned Japanese man in a black trench-coat steped forward pushing their victim into the ground.

"NO PLEASE!" The man pleaded. The two remaining Black Dragon held him to the ground as Kano took a knife from his jacket pocket. It made a piston sound, ejecting the blade.

"Very simple, Timothy..."

A grey BMW pulled into the spot stopping in front of the chaos. Kano had to assure the rest of his men that "It's alright."

Cage steped out, his eyes immediately fell on their victim, Timothy. "What the fuck is this?"

"You're late!" Kano scolded. "But just the same, you're just in time."

"What did I come down here for! What is this! What the fuck is goin on!"

Kano held up the knife, "Consider it a future-history lesson. A warning session. We teach children history so that they'll learn from mistakes that we've made, and try NOT to repeat them. You've been acting like child" Kano said matter-of-factly. "If you don't want the consequences; Tim, here, is facing, you'll remember to pay me my money."

Cage held up his hand, "Uh, that's not necessary, I'll remember, you don't have to remind me."

"But you see it doesn't matter because I have very good reason for doing to Tim, what I'm going to be doing." He took the knife sliding it against the concrete, slicing Tim's pinky off with the ease of butter. His screams saturated the cold night air. Ringing against Cage's eardrums.

"I get the point, okay?" John said disgusted.

"I understand, but he doesn't!" He sliced his ring finger off, this time almost seems easier than the first, but it's harder for Cage to stomach.

"Jesus Christ - are you - what the fuck!"

Kano answered Cages questioning over the resonant and incoherent screaming of his victim. "ALL HE has to DO is tell me what organization, he's working for!"

"I - I - I - I h-have no organ- organization!" The man said shakily.

"Bullshit!" He moved to the index finger, he messes up half-way through and has to start again from the base of the knuckle. Cage's eyes fell on the last severed finger. The torn skin from the end began to settle to expand, wilting, like a hard gel, it was hardly bleeding now.

Cage marched to the torture, "Alright, there's no point to that - hey - he" Kabal, and a younger man grabbed Cage as he came forward. He slapped their hands away and they grabbed at him again, so he pushed one of them, "I think that's enough!"

"What a ridiculous thing to say." Kano said slicing off the Tim's thumb. This time the man's reaction was less severe, his eyes started to close and he felt little pain, but groaning continued and he was conscious. There's no longer any need to hold him down.

"Look at this shit!" Kano said to Cage, "What're you looking forward to this!"

"I'm going to pay you goddamn it! How many fuckin' times do I have to say it! I'm gonna PAY YOU!"

"This was going to happen with or without you. I brought you here because you needed to wake UP!" he said jabbing the soaking knife at his forehead, "I am not your fuckin' DAD! You need to be aware of how serious this shit really is!" he unthinkingly made a stabbing motion towards Cage. "Because I will kill you... Look at him," he points at Timothy; again with the knife, then he looks to Kabal, "We're not getting anything from this guy. He takes Kabal's gun pointing it at Tim's forehead.

"Hey - wait, no!" Cage struggles against Kano's men, with three swift motions he belts Kabal in the chest, and manages to thrust both he and the younger man into the water just as - BLAM! A bullet tore open the man's head. Cage had barely stopped when Kano raised the gun at him.

"Don't move... What'd you think you were going to do, John? I've got a gun."

"I don't know."

"You don't know."

"You fucking killed him!" John said, amazed.

"What're you talking about?" Kano asked, tossing him the gun, as a reflex he caught it. "You're the one holding the gun..." Cage looked at the weapon with horror "Don't worry I'm not framing you, how else would I get my money? But it was his, and I don't need it."

"What makes you think I want it?" Cage held the gun out flat, in his palm.

"You'll need it, trust me." He picked up Jim's fingers as his men climbed up out of the water. Kano pried the wedding ring off of one of the severed fingers, then hurled them out into the harbor.

He walked over to Cage, holding out his fist. Baffled Cage opened his palm and Kano placed the bloody wedding ring in his open hand. "That's for you." He said simply, walking away.


	4. Kenshi

The distant sound of birds pollinated the misty morning air. It was this early time of day in which Kenshi felt most alive. He breathed in the leaves as the ambient light darkly amplified the colors of the world around him. The world he lived in was a comfortable cold, dew drops slid off leafs as he cupped the tea that rested at his side. On the other side was his sword. Forged of steel, cloaked in black, and washed of the blood of warriors; friend, and foe, and unknown alike. Those who challenged him could only meet their end one way.

A twig snapped directly behind Kenshi and his hand found his sword, lifting it awake. "Halt!" Kenshi spoke. Behind him the movement continued, he could tell from the steadiness it was the feet of a man. He slid the sword from it's casing. Trying to warn - whoever it was.

A weary voice found Kenshi's ears, "Is that how you treat an old man and fellow traveler?"

He turned to face the elderly gentleman, whose robes were dirty and feet bare. He had a long beard and could hardly carry his own weight. The man looked at him through eyes nearly blinded by bushy eyebrows. He carried a cane with him, no doubt, for walking.

Kenshi closed his sword, "You do not look to be a traveler."

"Ahh," he said coming around, "But I am. And I share a common interest."

"Tea?" Kenshi offered. The man was extremely pleased.

Taking the tea in hand he held it close to his chest "Tea, indeed. May I ask you how you got that?"

"The tea? That is your common interest?" Kenshi asked him.

"No warrior - the sword, the sword. That is nice. A high class weapon. Where does a man like you get something like that -- forgive me for saying so; but you don't look local." he was referring to Kenshi's European features, which were many, and prominent.

"That I do not." He agreed, laughing to himself. "The sword... I won the sword, from my very first opponent. - Before I had my own."

"Ah," the man said flicking his finger, "then technically you have never had your own."

"I suppose you could say that - though I would not --"

"Come, I will get you one that serves its purpose." He stands setting Kenshi's tea cup back and lifting his sword.

"I don't think it necessary..."

"I don't doubt you find it unnecessary warrior, one as skilled as you has a forceful wit in combat, but a fierce naivety in weaponry. You are good, even with shit, so you don't see the problem with it!"

"You called it a high class weapon just moments ago." Kenshi argued trying his best to talk the sword back into his hands.

"Right, high class is for hanging on your wall - placing on a mantle - selling at an auction, I'm here to get you a weapon that can chop your salad-sword in half."

"I do fine." Kenshi persisted.

"If you think that's good, imagine what you could do with the sword I speak of. Warrior such as you. For heaven's sake, man, look at the potential." Kenshi thought about it and the man slipped into this opportunity, "It is not so far, great warrior. What's a walk for a wanderer like you? - if it is no good... Well, then you're free to do what you will."

"How far." Kenshi asked packing away his things.

"Ah, It's just up the hill here - in the well. If I could get it myself I would keep it. But... How is an old man like me going to get something out of a well like that?" he said as they walked together.

"I do not know..." Kenshi said, feeling bad for the old man. "If you would like to keep the sword, why offer it to me?"

"I want _**a**_ sword, man, not _**the**_ sword. I told you I am a fan of blades, but I need not one for cutting. A decoration will do just fine." He said briefly bringing Kenshi's sword in front of him as they continued on.

"You'd like to keep my sword?" Kenshi asked in amazement.

"Of course I would! What are you going to do with it?" They both stopped in the middle of the road. "Trust me. You won't want it once we're there."

"If you are fair in your assumption..." he found he couldn't continue his sentence without the man's name.

"Song."

"If you are fair in your assumption, Song, I will be greatly indebted to you. You may keep my blade, in return."

They traveled of the road and stopped at the well, it was nearly hidden from public eye, and sealed shut.

"There is a sword in there?" Kenshi asked skeptically. He couldn't see how anyone could **KNOW** there was anything inside, including water, if the person claiming such couldn't move the seal.

"Senile old man you think, huh? Well there is a sword in there, bet your life on it. If you would rather not believe me, see for yourself, you've come this far, what harm could it do?"

Kenshi wrapped his hands around the stone lid, gripping it tightly, he felt no budge as he put his weight into it. Groaning angrily he pushed forward, the stone slab slid with a growl, scratching the stone surface. He pushed even harder and the lid collapsed to the ground on the other side, with a thump that crushed everything beneath it.

He collapsed, sweaty and exhausted, his back against the well. Song looked down at him with a smile. "Tired?"

"This better had been worth it, old man." He pushed himself to his feet, massaging his aching muscles. He stuck his head down into the darkened well.

"Do you see it?" Song asked him.

Kenshi could feel a silent echo, and unnerving sense of something not right within this well. The darkness was deep, and had a stench that was indescribable by words, not horrible, just off. And an anguished feeling about it. If the well contained anything, it would have amazed Kenshi. Because it seemed like the porthole to nothingness. "I cannot see anything."

Suddenly the darkness became light, and a sweeping sound like tearing paper filled his eardrums, growing but becoming more silent, like the rushing sound of waves as you sink below the water.

All at once Kenshi's hearing returned, the birds, the wind, but his sight was blocked by an intense black fog, it continued to worsen, until there was nothing left. He collapsed to his knees, fearing for his life. "SONG! SONG!"

"Yes..." was the only reply.

"Something has happened to me. I fear... I cannot see. This well is cursed."

"My name is not Song." His voice was younger, and clear, it was not the same man.

"What have you done with Song?" Kenshi asked pawing at the ground, as if trying to find his weapon, though he knew it was not there.

"I have done nothing with him. He does not exist. I am Shang Tsung. And I came here to collect the souls of your ancestors. - The only thing this well has ever been cursed with."

"YOU!" Kenshi barked, he had heard of Tsung, but it was not his reputation so much as his trickery that infuriated him. He jumped to his feet grabbing Tsung with both hands clasped across the sorcerer's chest. "I WILL KILL YOU!" Kenshi promised in a blind rage.

Tsung just grabbed Kenshi right back, thrusting him forward. The back of Kenshi's leg hit the well and he fell against the other end, hitting his head. He felt himself gone for a moment, then sensed falling, the air rushing by him, then...

Nothing...


	5. Memento

The door to Cage's room was open, it might as well have been off the hinges. The rest of the room was such a mess it would take satellite imaging to find empty space. The clothes he slept in are torn, so are the discarded rags of the anonymous redhead next to him, and oddly his sheets. He looked into the bathroom, inside the glass shower door - was broken. "Fuck..." he mumbled to himself.

He reached for the mirror on the counter next to the clock. Nothing was there, and the alarm, which might as well have been a fog horn broke any peace which he may have found in the last ten seconds. He proceeded to throw the clock across the room, destroying his wall socket in the process.

"Jesus _Christ_!" The woman next to him screamed. "What the **fuck** is your problem!"

"Who're you again?" Was the only question he felt like asking. Neither of them felt well enough to get up.

John lifted the mirror from the floor and stared into it. His eyes were weighed down by black bags. The earned debt of lost sleep. The light from the window shown into his face, if there was any way to make his headache worse, that was it. He knew the perfect solution for both problems. Reaching penultimate drawer he took out a pair of black sunglasses, placing them on, he fell right back into place.

Then, the phone rang! "**GODDAMN IT**!" He screamed, but still not wanting to get up, the phone was on the other side.

"Damn, man, I'll get it..." the redhead submitted. Before he could stop her from answering, the phone was at her ear. "Hello?"

"What the fuck're you doin' answering the phone!?" Cage said, snatching it out of her hand.

She gave him the finger as she got up to find her clothes.

"Who was that?" Anna; very, justifiably, angry.

"That was... a... friend." He cursed himself for his stupidity.

"Really?" She said over the phone as the woman held up her torn panties, John gave her a shrug like, 'I don't care'. "Because I -- fuck it. Nevermind, do what you want. That's not why I'm calling. I know you've been hurting lately - financially. And I was hoping I could help you fix it. We might not be together, but I still care whether you're alive when I wake up tomorrow."

"At least somebody does." He joked.

"Yeah," she said laughing, "Well, I talked to Paramount, that's where I was going yesterday. To talk to them about you, and I might have something lined up?"

The redhead picked up, once again, a torn article of clothing, with one finger, displaying it for him. He spoke into the phone; "Hold on one second." He cupped his hand around the receiver, "WHAT!"

"I have no clothes! How am I supposed to go home!?"

He hung over the bed grabbing some of his clothes off the floor, then hurling them at her. "There, now get the fuck out of here!"

The woman is so offended she's practically reduced to tears, "God, do you treat everyone like this?"

"I'm sorry," he said trying to reconcile her emotions "I can't really -- Last night, I was really upset, and really drunk; and right now I'm really tired, really frustrated, and really... sorry. If it was up to me NOW you wouldn't even be in this situation, but since you are - you have to go... now."

She nodded in acceptance as he continued on the phone. "Is everything alright?" Anna asked him.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just... Nothing, hey - movie deal? Really?"

"Yeah, just meet me at the Anthem. In an hour, okay?"

The Anthem was Anna's favorite place to go for a drink, though Cage could never figure out why, the people - Neanderthals, who wandered through weren't exactly her kind of people. Maybe that's exactly why though, she was fascinated by things outside herself, he thought, maybe that's why she'd been with him for so long.

People swooped back and forth in front of him but he couldn't see anything beyond them, the music was loud, and annoying. He bumped into a blonde woman passing through, accidently grabbing her chest as they apologized to each other. Then, because of the placement of his hand, he found himself apologizing for his apology. It turned out, fortuitously, to be Elizabeth.

"HEY! Oh... I uh, didn't mean to touch your chest..." he said.

"HHYeah right!" She said winking at him. She had a beer clasped in both hands. She nodded slowly "So, what're you doing here?"

"Meeting someone..." he told her nodding back.

"Oh..." there's an awkward silence.

"Ah! OH! Oh no! Not like that, I'm -- can you tell that I'm hung over?" He pointed to his face.

"It's singed into your eyeballs, dude." she laughed.

"Really? Damn... No, I'm meeting my Ex here - but it's a business thing so we're not getting back together... I don't think..." he said awkwardly.

"Well, whatever, man. I mean, I told you; you seem cool. Just do what you gotta do."

"Awesome. So what're you doing here? I don't think I've seen you in here before."

"Just, partying..."

Cage saw his producer, Ed Nikols, at a large table with Anna, and some other people whose backs were toward him. Nikols waved him over, with a smile.

"I have to go." He told Elizabeth, "It was nice talking to you."

"Nice talking to you to." She said, smiling.

"Give me a call!" he yelled back to her as he walked to the table. She said she would, and as he found his seat, he saw that one of the men joined at the table with him, was Kano. Nikols moved so that John would have a seat in the middle, next to Anna.

Nikols opened his mouth first, as usual, "Cage, my man, this is; Waterstone, from Paramount, - and _Kano_, has offered to help produce the film. Says he knows what you're looking for."

"He's put up a lot of money." Anna explained.

"I'm starting to think I won't go one day without seeing his face." Cage said, teetering on the edge of angry.

Cage glanced over at the bar, a big black guy was looking over at their table, when his eyes found John he turned his head back to the bartender.

"That's not a very nice way to show you're appreciation, Johnny," Kano said "I'm doing you a favor." They all played their roles accordingly. Not wanting to upset the outsider, Waterstone, who was unaware of the history shared by Cage and Kano.

"My appreciation depends on the hole you're going to burn in my pocket." the smile and head nod that he gave were dishonest in their energy. His breath almost gave away the sarcasm.

"Don't worry, Johnny," Kano said, Cage practically had to keep from wincing, he hated being called 'Johnny', "Just what I'm owed, plus the producer fee, and that's it."

"That's _**it**_!?" Cage said, genuinely amazed.

"That's it. I have no need to take anything else." he pulled a cigarette lighter, with a dragon on it, from his jacket pocket, laying it on the table next to his drink.

Finally, Waterstone spoke, "I've heard good things about you, John. Everyone at Paramount is happy to have you."

"So... you guys haven't seen my movies." John joked. Glancing at the bar, the big guy was looking at them again.

Waterstone, detesting Cage's humor, politely ignored the joke, "You're last film took 30 million dollars to make - not bad for an action film. But it only made 23 million in the states and barely made up the rest after international release. To put it bluntly; your movies don't make money."

"I know," said Cage, "You're taking a chance with me, and I appreciate that."

"I am. And that's why you're not going to make the same garbage you've made for the last ten years. It's cinema goddamn it, not the circus. Get me?"

"Right..." Cage said, biting his tongue. "I won't let you down."

"Damn right you won't." Waterstone said leaving the table. "I'll give you a call when I have a script."

As he left, Kano rose from the table as well. He flicked the lid from his lighter and set the flame to his cigarette. "Art. John. Think art." He said pointing to his head. As he left the table a bouncer came over to tell him to put out the cigarette, Kano pushed him violently, "Get the fuck out of my way!"

"Jesus John, you owe **THAT** guy money?" Nikols said sipping on his drink.

"Get out of here." Anna told him.

"What -- I"

"I want to talk to John, alone."

Nikols slightly embarrassed, and greatly offended, rose, extended both arms in a mock bow, finished his drink in one sip, and went to the bar, scowling. Cage noticed that the big guy had already left.

Anna slapped John across the face hard enough for the people behind them to hear, it wasn't even drowned out by the music. "You **FUCKER**! You want to fuck up everything! _Everything!_ Do you know what happens if this movie doesn't make money now? He put up MILLIONS!"

"How come you didn't tell me he was here?" Cage said, with his head low. He broke from his submissive stance, and looked at her.

"He just showed up a half an hour before you got here. What the hell's wrong with you John? I thought yesterday you said you were trying to change."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I call your apartment, and some bimbo answers the phone." He laughed to himself, "You're obviously hung-over. Like..." her eyes fall on his hand, "see what is this? A wedding ring? - You look like **shit**!"

"Look a lot has happened since you talked to me, alright?" He said defensively.

"A lot has happened!? It hasn't even been 24 hours what the fuck could have possibly --"

He shifts in his seat, getting in her face, "I saw a guy get murdered yesterday! Kano chopped his fingers off one at a time, then he shot him in the head and threw him in the river! Is that enough... Huh? Too busy worrying about yourself all the time - you think you're worrying about me but your not. I got enough stress on my hands worrying that that psycho's gonna do that to me, so why don't you take your bitching and get the fuck out of my life!?"

He gets up to leave, she clings to his clothes, trying to get him to stay. It doesn't work. "John, John. I'm sorry."

He pays for his drinks, "That's where the ring came from; he pulled it off a severed finger and handed to me like a memento."


	6. Blind Guidance

Hibiki stood in the center training room, where all of the Shirai Ryu sat in a circle. He looked over them like the commander of an army. His voice carried great weight across the room, into the ears of many, patiently listening. "As you know, the Lin Kuei have murdered a man whom they believed was an agent of Shirai Ryu, placed as a spy, amongst their ranks. Since no one in our ranks is willing to admit that the spy was placed by them - we can only assume; that he was not. Regardless; the Lin Kuei see this as an act of conflict on our part. And they may seek retribution. Even if they did not - believing that they've killed a spy, that they've killed one of our own, leaves them with a lasting sense of accomplishment. We cannot let this stand. I say we attack the Lin Kuei temple. Kill as many as we can."

A hollow murmur spread across the room, it quickly fell silent once again. A bearded man, whose face was bent with solid suspicion spoke; "What of women and children? The families of these warriors?"

"We kill them too..." said Hibiki.

"Should we kill your children then?" A voice floated in from across the room, seeming to echo back the other way. The warriors eyes fell on Hanzo Hasashi, standing where others sat.

Hibiki was offended, the tradition was for warriors speaking to do so one at a time, but he lamented; "I have no children."

"I do." Hanzo said. "Do you know what I would do if someone took my child away from me?"

"Nothing if you were dead." Hibiki said.

"Enough..." Daichi, the oldest man, was in attendance. He held up his hand. As a former member of the Shirai Ryu, his legacy and advice are invaluable to everyone in the room. His authority is not official - but his integrity is. "The Lin Kuei temples do not house women; their wives should not be in attendance... Their girls should be at home, but their boys could be training. - The ones who are old enough... Hibiki is right..."

"Thank you sir!" Hibiki said bowing.

"SIT DOWN!" Daichi's voice was deep and demanding; the exact opposite of the weary voice in the speech preceding. He continued on, as if uninterrupted: as Hibiki sat, "...They cannot be allowed to believe they've killed one of us. It gives their clan too much strength. -- The Lin Kuei was once an honorable enemy. Now they destroy much of what they themselves once stood for. We cannot follow this same path, and destroy ourselves from within. The slaughter of innocent women and children WILL NOT be accepted. Any one who branches off from the training grounds, into the village, or a stray... family member... should be far from reprimanded, he should be destroyed."

The younger bearded man, spoke again, "Before we attack, I think it necessary to make clear, of what age is a man?"

"Thirteen." Said Hibiki.

"Sixteen." Hanzo quickly substituted.

"Sixteen... Is acceptable. Though any number seems low to me now." Daichi said quietly. Hanzo and Hibiki bowed once again to the elder, as the meeting concluded.

Hanzo's sandals sunk into the soft earth as he stepped outside. The clouds fell just in front of the sun. Causing a beam of light to shine down on the village. He looked to the peak of the mountains, where snow covered the surface and the Lin Kuei temple. Knowing he was going to have to make his way to the top, and fight the greatest of his enemies, in their most comfortable state, while he was weakened, made him question - for the first time - his joining the Shirai Ryu.

Hanzo's drinking buddy, Ayumu, patted him on the shoulder. "How are things?"

He thought about the danger his life could be in, and the grief it would mean for his family if something were to happen. "Terrible," he said as they begun to walk, "have you ever done something for your family, that you regretted much of later?"

"Hmm... Yes." Ayumu said.

"What?" Hanzo asked quietly.

"Sleeping with the flower girl next door."

Hanzo slapped Ayumu across the chest, "I said FOR your family... Moron."

"Oww... I think my heart just skipped a beat" Aymu rubbed his chest feverishly, "She always provided flowers FOR my wife. When we were done." He said with a smile.

"Pssshh." Hanzo ignored his friend stupidity, thinking it an all too common occurrence.

Hibiki approached from behind, calling to Hanzo, "Hasashi! Hasashi!"

"What does he want?" Ayumu asked.

"I don't know," said Hanzo, "and I'm not sure I want to..." When Hibiki got close enough, he stopped catching his breath, and seemed reluctant to speak, "What?" Hanzo pressed.

"I wanted to say that I respect... your opinions... And that I-- well, yes, that's it; you were right - I'm glad you stood up, and I respect your opinions."

"Well I do not respect yours." Hasashi said coldly. "Respectable men think before they speak not after. Those who declare war on children do not deserve to give or receive admiration. To me you are the soulless shell of a walking man. Respect from you is like gold from a peasant; they don't give it, because they don't have it..."

"You don't even know me." Hibiki defended. But it would do no good.

"I know enough. Now leave here before I cut you in half..." Hasashi placed a hand on his sword. "GO!" Hibiki walked away, with his head down. Furious, upset, shamed, Hanzo couldn't tell. But he couldn't care either.

Kenshi woke to the sound of water trickling against rocks. Dampened in one submerged ear. He rolled over, feeling his muscles pull against his will. The pain was amazing. He could feel the large gash on his back tingling as the water flowed between it. There were many more cuts and gashes that he could not feel. His muscles were like solid rock, weighing down his bones.

The darkness.

He wasn't sure; was this darkness his, or the caves? His head rolled to his left, and tiny light formed in front of him several feet ahead, it was bright, and continued to grow stronger as he looked on. To his astonishment, it did not appear to reflect anywhere. The inside of the cave never became visible, only the light. Which took on the shape of a sword. A Katana.

He forced himself rolling over, with his hand and elbow digging into the rocks, he lifted himself halfway; into a sitting position.

Turned toward the sword leaning further, but knew he would have to stand. Even as his joints popped the anger and determination and even curiosity won over, he pulled himself up. And was more out of breath than he had ever been in his life. Approaching the sword, he leaned down; expecting his hand to find nothing, other than more rocks once it reached the ground. Instead a dark shadow of a hand closed around the handle of the weapon. He held it in front of him. Realizing that it was indeed real.

"Kenshi ~ This sword is your birthright." a voice spoke, it felt like a thought, to Kenshi, but more powerful "Within this steel, rests the souls of your many ancestors."

A half dozen faces, European, and Asian, flashed in his mind's eye, the one constant; was the sword. They had all carried it. He even saw a vision of himself. His body beaten, clothes torn, standing; a dirty bloody mess, in an empty cave, holding the sword. The vision fizzled away, with a hiss and his world was black once again.

"Who are you?" Kenshi asked.

The voice did not answer.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

And again, the voice did not answer. Because; he knew the answer.

"Restore my sight!" He pleaded desperately. He fell to his knees. "I see nothing of beauty without my eyes - the world is cold, and painful. What good is silence without scenery? What good is noise without foundation? The world as I know it, is my eyes! Give it back! Please..." he wept quietly. Shamed by his tears, and his fearful outburst. The silence only made him feel lonelier.

"Your sight is gone. I cannot replace it, but I can guide you." The sword glowed brightly, illuminating a beacon for him to follow. It led him out of the tomb and into the wild. He felt the wind sweep against his face as he emerged. The beacon vanished. "That is all I can do.' He couldn't tell if the thought was his or the voice.

And he collapsed.


	7. Caged

Cage finished shoving the last of the party debris into a plastic bag and carried it to the trash bin. It being already full, he placed it on top, watching it settle, seeping over the edges like a muffin top. His hand hovered over it, like some kind of magical force was going to keep it from spilling over. The bag finally stopped moving. He felt confident it was stable. A pounding at the door startled him, and the trash slipped out of the edge of the bag spilling out onto the floor. "FUCK!" he looked to the door "Yeah!?"

He went to it, looking through the peephole. Kabal was on the other side, fingers scratching against the back of his head.

Cage quickly, pulled open the dresser next to the door, taking a gun from inside and shoving it into the back of his pants as the knocking continued. He straightened his shirt over it and calmly opened the door - half way. "Hey," he said, "what do you want?"

"Got a lady in there?" Kabal asked, peeking inside.

"No. What do you want?"

"Can I come in?"

"Look, I'm kinda busy right now..." He closes the door.

Kabal jams his foot in, slamming his shoulder against the door, the chain lock flailed and rattled loudly. He walked in coolly. "What is your problem man? You always get the wrong idea about everything."

"Look..." Cage held up his hand, "'dude'... Can't I go one fucking day without having to see Kano's face. O-Or have some goon - no offense - burst into my house and bother me for his money."

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not here to get Kano's money from you, I'm here to get Kano's money for you." He sits down on the comforter in front of John's TV.

John twisted his head skeptically. "What do you mean? How? Why?"

Kabal picked up the remote, "What kind of channels do you get on this - What am I talking about you probably get everything... You should sell some of this shit, you'd pay it off a lot quicker." He looked up at Cage, who didn't seem amused. "Uh- We'll get to the how in a second. But the why... It's because you dropped Jarek and me in the river like it was nothing. You're a martial artist." He extends his arms. "I'm a martial artist." He retracts them. "I'm not used to being beaten... But I respect that. I see the potential - Kano doesn't. He thinks you're --just a movie star."

"I am."

"Is that why you have a gun tucked away in your pants?" he pointed with a wink.

Cage reached halfway back, feeling red-handed. "It's for protection."

"Yeah, and you'd use it wouldn't you... for protection?" he made a gun with his hand, pointing up at himself.

"That's right. For protection." He insisted, as in only.

"Look, we've got a huge thing coming up, a lot of money. A lot to spread around. We could use you."

"And this is coming from Kano." Cage folded his arms over.

"It's coming from me... Look All you have to do is drive the car."

"Why're you so interested in my fucking skills if all I have to do is drive the car?"

"No such thing as a plan without problems. Besides you do all your own stunts don't you?" Kabal got up and moved to the door.

"Yeah."

"Lot of car stunts in those movies. Just think about it. Okay. You won't have to worry about money for awhile." He ducked out, leaving cage alone in his apartment.

Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs, United States Special Forces, stepped up to a whiteboard in the middle of a small conference room. Like a miniature roman colosseum, his men looked on from elevated platforms. His finger slammed a photograph taped to the board.

"Kano remains largely inactive. We've been unable to get cameras into his fronts or businesses, because they're under covert twenty-four hour guard. There's always someone inside of them. Kano is usually hidden under Akira's in south Chinatown. And He rarely leaves the basement there. - That we know of. He's renovated the place several times and we have reason to suspect that there might be..." he takes a deep breath, "tunnels... inside. Passageways; leading to unknown parts of the city. The very last time he popped up on our radar he was at the Anthem. The club downtown. That was the day after our agent went missing..."

He walked over reaching toward a table in the center of the room, he glared up at his men. Lifting a picture of a slightly bloated corpse, he circled it around. Never moving his eyes away from them. "Tobin Kovacs was undercover inside Kano's operation. His body was discovered in the river this morning, every finger on his left hand was severed and discarded. A single bullet wound to the head killed him instantly. He left behind three children... I know some of you didn't know him..." he said emotionally, "I'd like you to take a moment of silence to remember your fallen comrade."

He folded his hand over his wrist bowing his head. Everyone else in the room bowed their heads as well, and there was silence.

"I want you all to remember this." He held up the picture again. "This is what you're up against." He pointed, again, to the whiteboard. "We've got several promising leads inside the Black Dragon." He looked at the blonde woman in the front row, "Sonya."

He took her seat as she stood up to address the unit. "Yes. Okay... Kano has a very tight nit group of people that he works with..." she pointed to the board which had several pictures on it. Including Kabal. "Lately that list has expanded to include Jonathan Carlton, a screen actor working under the stage name Johnny Cage. For those of you who don't know, he does B movie action pictures. Really crappy stuff."

A laugh spilled over the floor.

"He has a habit of mild recreational drug use. Heavy drinking. Women. And as it turns out a serious gambling problem. I've been building a rapport with Mr. Carlton over the last several days. I was following that lead when Kano - shadowed by Major Briggs - was also spotted at the Anthem, where the two suspects met over dinner, with several others. Apparently to discuss the making of a new film that Kano would be producing." She lifted a manilla folder from the table. "That was when we learned Cage's association with Kano was due to an obligation of gambling debts. And of the disappearance... of agent Kovacs. As we gather evidence we'll expand our investigation by gaining Mr. Carlton's cooperation and hopefully going undercover... " she ran her fingers along the folder "myself." She opened it up, Black Dragon members Kabal, 'No Face', and Jarek, will be placed under surveillance. Hopefully, they'll do something stupid."

After the meeting was over Sonya collected the files and notes from her desk.

"'I'll blow you're guts up you fucking tyrant! No on deserves to die by icicles you sick fuck!! Only a monster imposes thees twisted methods of demise!'" One of the men leaving spouts, the woman next to him chuckles as they exit the room. Sonya recognizes the words as lines, quoted from Cages most critical disaster, a film she couldn't remember the name of. It made her feel kind of bad for him somehow.

As she finished packing away her things Major Briggs approached her. "You did a good job today."

"You say that to me all the time." She said swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"That's 'cause it's true, you did. And the minute you fuck up, I'm going to call you out."

"Thanks Jax." she said in jest.

"You're welcome. So you got this Johnny Cage thing covered?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm on it."

"I'm not worried."

"You know the sad thing is. I feel kind of bad for the guy. We'll be putting him in a lot of danger if he gets me inside."

"Hey." He said squeezing her shoulders. "You worry about you. You know what I'm saying?"

She looked at Kano's picture on the board. His power jumped through it, aggressive, violent. She felt uneasy just looking at it. She only began to realize how hard this was going to be. "Yeah..."


	8. A Fate of Furious Contention

Hanzo gripped his daughter Maeko's shoulders. "Stand up straight." he told her. Pressing his palm against the top of her head. "You're definitely getting taller." he smiled.

"No I'm not!" she said sheepishly.

"You don't want to be taller?" he asked, in exaggerated amazement.

"I'm going to be a kid forever!" she swung her arms from side to side.

"I believe you will." He said kissing her forehead. "But you're already taller than most of the boys your age..." he started preparing a satchel of food. "What's you're age?" he asked her. Stopping.

She cocked her head rubbing the back of her ear... "Muh-uh?"

"You don't know? You are trying to fool me! You know!"

She covered her newly reddened face. "Nine..."

"That's right NINE!" - He signaled her, tapping her on the hand, "Hey, bring me that over there."

She ran over to the corner of the room, where his sword lay, without a place, even a mantle. Simply propped in the corner. Isolated.

She picked it up very carefully, and brought it to him.

"Thank you very much." he unsheathed it a quarter way, looking at the sharpened end.

"Father, did you buy that sword?" She asked as he sheathed it.

"It was given to him." His wife Yuki stood in the doorway. Arms folded over. "By the Shirai Ryu. You're father is a warrior now."

"Listen to me Maeko." Hasashi gripped both her wrists loosely, looking into her eyes. "Every man in every village always wants their women to have boys. They think it will help them pass on their legacy... When your mother told me she was pregnant. Do you know what I wanted?" Her eyebrow furled up above her nose, she shook her head silently. Fingering the side of her nose. "I wanted you. I even told your mother, I wanted a girl. Because One day Maeko: You will grow up. Whether you like it or not. And when you do - as - you do - every man, and boy... in this village is going to be telling you that men are tougher, men are stronger, men are smarter - than you are," he said pointing to her stomach, "because you're a woman. - And that's the only reason. - Because it's not true. - Look at your mother." He twisted her around pointing her in Yuki's direction. "That woman is both smarter and tougher than I will ever be. That is why I married her. Don't every let any of those men push you around, or tell you what to do. Understand?" She nods. "Good." he pats her elbow. Rising from his seat, to the door.

"Why did you tell her all that stuff?" Yuki asked.

"Why? Because it's true." he said, stuffing his sword in his belt.

"What brought it on?"

"I do not know." he said casually. He embraced her lightly before heading out.

It was buried deep, unknown to him in mind. But he knew well within his heart why he spoke his words. Those words were written by his fate. A fate of furious contention. This would not be kendo sticks and training grounds, blunt cuts that bruised lightly. This was warfare wrought by the Lin Kuei. Blood would spill tonight...

Kenshi felt a man's toe jab his arm below the shoulder. He opened his eyes. Blinking furiously, but all he could see was darkness. He felt the wind scrawl the clothes across his back. He could feel the moistness of the air, and the sound of birds around him.

"Hey." he heard a voice say. "What are you doing here, what clan are you with? Swordsman."

"I have no clan he said rising. Just a swordsman." He tried to stretch his body, and nurse his wounds.

"What is up this pathway?" The stranger asked him.

"Of what pathway... are you referring?" Kenshi said lowering his head.

"This pathway. The one--"

"I cannot see anything." Kenshi admitted rubbing his eyes.

"A blind swordsman?" the stranger asked.

"It would seem." Kenshi said to the point, "Starting today."

"Well, please." The stranger took him by the arm, at first he resisted, "Come... have a seat. My men and I have made tea. - If you would like some." Kenshi walked over with the man, and had a seat on the flat of a rock.

"I'm actually very hungry." Kenshi said.

"I've brought food." the stranger told him, giving some away, "You were attacked? Warrior?"

Kenshi chomped on the food vigorously "Yes I was." he said under a boil, "by a sorcerer... name Shang Tsung."

The man apparently found this very difficult to believe. "You must have struck your head. Warrior. Shang Tsung is a myth."

"I struck my head. But I am under no delusions. That's how I was blinded..." he said waving his hand at his face, "by the souls of my ancestors, he stole."

"This sword looks new." The stranger observed as Kenshi chuckled through his bread.

"It is not new. Actually," he said taking a bite, "It is very old."

"You do not look to be from around here."

Again Kenshi couldn't help but chuckle. "That I do not." he said nodding from the shoulders. "That sword is the reason I emerged from that well alive. It is possessed, with remnants - pieces - of the souls of my ancestors. I will train, and use it to take revenge on Shang Tsung for blinding me, and depriving the resting grounds of my family."

"Well? The stranger asked."

"Mm." Kenshi pointed.

There was some shuffling before the man found the hole Kenshi had risen from, "You came from there? Where is the well?"

"Above."

"I can't see anything down there. It's amazing you made it out of there at all. And you pointed directly to it. Very accurate for a blind man."

"Your men are silent." Kenshi told him. "How many are there?"

"They are very well trained. - Why don't you take a guess?" the stranger said curiously.

"Fifteen." Kenshi answered almost immediately.

"Very good. I'm impressed. Your wounds are nasty, swordsman. But we must be on our way. Besides I wouldn't subject you to such rough hands under these conditions. I'll leave a bag of food for you, and send one of my men to fetch my wife. You'll like her: Soft hands. Uh, oh... What is your name, swordsman?"

"Kenshi."

"A fitting name." the stranger said, undoubtedly with a smile.

"It is indeed." Kenshi said. He took a sip from his tea.

"My wife will lead you back into town when she's done. You can bed at my place until you travel on. I do have one question for you; that I hope you can answer, before me and my men depart: The mountains, not too distant from here, where this pathway leads? Is that the passage to the Lin Kuei temple?"

"Yes." he said immediately. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure why I said that. I actually have no idea."

"Tha's alright. You took a hard hit I'm sure. You take care of yourself, Kenshi."

"And what should I call you, mysterious stranger? Or don't mysterious and helpful strangers have names?" Kenshi nudged.

"This one does." Said the stranger. "I am Hanzo Hasashi. I am Shirai Ryu."


	9. A Job to Do

John Cage found his seat of leather, plopping down comfortably, onto Kano's couche.

Jarek and Kabal were preparing. Jarek was strapping up a kevlar vest while Kabal was jamming a pistol into his belt at the small of his back. "Still got my gun?" Kabal asked.

Cage confused; glanced around "I- well - I thought, I didn't need one."

"Course you do. It's not a candy store..." he said lifting a Fabrique Nationale Carabine assualt rifle from atop Kano's desk. He pulled back the slide. "It's some serious fucking shit... Still..." He said, holding the gun vertically. He trotted over. Once a few feet from John he lowered the rifle into his other hand, somehow Kabal's lack of intimidating mannerisms made him seem more intimidating, "I said do you still have my gun?"

"I didn't bring it." he said uncomfortably.

"That's a shame. I really liked that one. - I mean, I know Kano gave it to you and everything, but... Well he gave it to me first."

"I don't want it." Cage said rubbing his head, 'What the fuck am I doing' he thought. 'I don't even know what these guys are planning. I never should have shown up.' "You can have it back next time I see you." He was exhausted, his head glued to one side of the room. He didn't even look at Kabal.

"Thanks." Kabal flung the rifle over his back.

"Hey." Jarek had his foot on the table, taping a knife to his boot. Cage looked up. "You're pretty talented." he said, "Most people don't get the drop on me. The way you tossed me into the water the other night..." he stood straight. "...took some skills." he pulled a 12" blade from his vest holding it up. "You ever do that to me again I will cut your fucking throat! Do you understand me?" Jarek stepped at Cage with bottled intensity. He wasn't going to do anything. But he had thought about it for awhile.

Kabal quitely put his hand just below Jarek's shoulder, protectively. "Hey." is all he said.

"Ear to ear. Hear me Hollywood boy? Ear to fuckin ear!" he stormed toward the door. Plowing it down "You don't owe me any money motherfucker!"

"Don't worry about him." Kabal said, "He's always like that."

"And you're not worried?"

"Nah." he said "Come on." he swung his arm "Let's go."

"What are we doing?" Cage asked as they passed by through the door, into the main room, by the gamblers and the hookers.

Kabal, eyed him briefly, he couldn't believe he'd dare ask the question. Then he turned his head stuttered as they kept walking, checking his earshot. "You're actually going to ask me?"

"I'm driving. I don't know where the fuck we're going."

"I'll drive us there. You just gotta drive us back." he said with finger points.

"How long will it take?"

"Fuck do you care Hollywood? Shit, keep asking questions like that I'm gonna start to think you're a cop."

When they got outside clouds loomed above them. It had been raining earlier and the ground shimmered. Kabal lead Cage to a black van. Opening up the back. There were three people inside. Luckily for Johnny Jarek had taken shotgun. All three men were armed with assault rifles. It struck John that this could be another lesson session. 'Maybe they're going to do something to me because I haven't paid Kano his money.' Or maybe he was just uneasy about the whole thing. "What is this?" he said in a panic. "What're you doing?"

Kabal tried to load him inside, but he wouldn't budge "What the fuck is with you?"

"I'm not getting in there."

"Coome oon!" he said, like it was no big deal. He tried to nudge him into the van. But Cage still didn't budge. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Get in there." he stared at him. "What?" he held his arms out. "What? What the fuck is it? What?"

"How do I know? I mean..." he looked into the van.

"... Oh, come on, what are you fucking retarded? You think I'm gonna kill you? That's not exactly practical or anything. Besides, you think I need this much firepower... for you?"

"Well I don't know!" he said looking around, paranoid.

"Come on." he said patting him on the shoulder. "Just get in the van. - Don't be so fucking paranoid." Cage stepped into the back of the van, "Got me standing out here in the middle of the fucking street with a fucking rifle strapped to my back." Kabal muttered as he took to the driver's seat.

On the way, one of the other guys, in the back, with a ski mask, cocked his chin at John. "Hey. I've seen all your movies."

"Teddy shut up."; the guy to Cage's left.

"Seriously. Not all of em but. Enough. Dragon Fist 2? Fuckin' badass man. What was it like fucking that hot Asian chick?"

"You're Asian!" the guy to the left again.

Cage looked around him 'This guy can - NOT be serious.' "We don't actually do anything it's just acting."

"Yeah, I know - but you banged her right? I know she woulda'."

"Just 'cuz you woulda'..." Said their conversational-intruder.

"Fuck you!" he responded. "Seriously man. Did you?"

'Shit! What the fuck should I say?' he thought "Uh, I was married at the time."

"Pphh. Shit. Wouldn't stop me."

"Yeah. I know." Cage said matter-of-fact.

"Anyway. Think I can get your autograph when this is done? I've got kids, man. They'd love that."

"Sure, why not."

"Ah, thanks. My kids'll love you forever."

The woman to 'Teddy's' right didn't speak at all. John started to wonder if she ever said anything. "So what should I call you guys?" he said, trying to be casual.

"You asking questions again?" Kabal asked, snapping his head back in disbelief.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up!": Jarek.

"I'm Teddy, as you know. That's No Face, to your left, and this here is Tasia. You can't see it but underneath there she's pretty hot." She gives Teddy a death stare, still, she doesn't speak.

"No Face?" Cage asked, thinking; 'That's the dumbest name I ever heard.'

No face turned to him, "Don't - ask."

"We're here." Kabal said stopping the van in an alley. The buildings that sandwiched them were brick, smoke billowed out of a manhole in front of them. "Cage: in the front seat." Kabal said getting out. Much to John's annoyance Kabal slammed the door just as he was taking his seat. Everybody else piled out too. "You wait for us here. Don't move, or I'll fucking kill ya'!"

"What exactly are you guys doing?" Cage asked.

Kabal reached across his own back pulling his pistol, he held it out in front of him, without aiming, looking at the side of the gun, then he pulled back the slide, and held it at his side, giving John a threatening look.

"Look, I don't know how much fucking time this is supposed to take. I barely fucking know the way back - I don't know what the fuck you guys are doing - and I don't have any fucking idea what to do if some bad shit happens! So you can give threaten me and keep me in the dark all you want but it'll be your fucking mistake when I have no idea what to fuckin' do!" Cage was furious, and it showed, a lot.

Kabal rattled the gun at his thigh anxiously then glanced off to one side then the other, he took a deep breath, his eyes on the front tire. He looked up. "It's a bank job about a block around the corner. Keep the engine running. Stay there."

"A block?"

"Yeah, a block." Kabal put his gun away. "I wasn't about to have this thing on the surveillance cameras. Don't worry." He said sliding his rifle into his hands. "We're prepared."

"You guys are crazy you know that? You guys are fucking crazy." 'I'm screwed.' John Kept thinking.

"Yeah, I know. And before you think about splitting, remember that you're already an accessory: you drove us here. Now, keep the engine running -"

"-Stay here. Yeah, I got it." he said pressing his hands against the wheel. And the group headed out like a unit, leaving Cage feeling stranded.

Seconds dragged on like hours; all the cliches were true. And Cage kept checking his watch and wiping sweat from his eyes. He felt like he checked his mirrors every five seconds. And his racing mind seemed to be working backward.

Every time a car drove by either side of the alley his body would stiffen and his feet would clench against the floorboards pressing his back to the seat.

He heard a siren, and his head immediately shot in no particular direction. As the sound became closer he began to get more paranoid. His heart raced like strobe lights, and his whole body tightened up. His veins felt like they pumped hot tar that was ready to burst from his tingling finger tips. He tried to calm his worried hands. Rubbing one with his thumb.

He bit the loose skin between his thumb and his index finger as the police car drove past the alley; away from the direction the Black Dragon had gone.

He tried to breath a sigh of relief, but guttural laughter escaped his lungs instead. "Oh my god." he said as water squeezed from his eyes. "Jesus Christ." He said with his hands jumping first to heart, then both on the wheel. "Jesus - fucking - Christ!" He put his lips together and breathed out deeply and let out a kind of cough clearing his throat. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay." he said rocking in his seat. "Uugh..." he stuck his head out the window. He was much calmer now.

Cage recognized the 'pop, pop, popping' sound of gunfire immediately. From his time as an actor, he had trained with real guns making Sudden Violence, and it was unmistakable. He was also certain it was coming from the direction of the bank - although, really, he didn't think it was something he needed to ask himself. "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" he felt like he could tear the wheel out of the dashboard. His hands did shake out of fury against it. "COME ON!" he screamed. But all he could do was wait.

Unlike the movies, the firing wasn't constant and it didn't seem like hailstorm of bullets either. There were frequently small, and occassionally. Long pieces of silence before firing continued. Cage often found himself hoping between those silences that Kabal and the others would show up already. He heard one gun firing now. Expecting the end to come soon; suddenly a brushfire of gunshots spread into the air.

Cage not knowing what was happening, or what to do; got out of the van. He looked at the driver's side window as he contemplated leaving. Then behind the van, towards all the gunfire. He had made up his mind, something was fucked up, and he wasn't about to die because of it and he sure as hell wasn't going to go to prison because Kabal and Jarek wanted to play Cowboys and Indians for an evening. He took a running walk in the opposite direction of the gunfire.

The barrel of a pistol pointed at Cage's face before he could round the corner. Jarek was standing in front of him leaning forward slightly and squeezing a gun shot wound just below his center ribcage. "Where the fuck are you going?"

BAM! Gunfire coming from Jareks' left. He returned fire. Cage tried to run behind Jarek, but was blocked, Jarek grabbed John by the coat collar pointing his gun. John wrapped his hand around Jarek's right wrist and with the other hand slammed his fist against Jarek's inner-arm forcing it to bend in, John pushed Jarek's wrist toward him, jamming the gun into his left shoulder. John pulled Jarek, struggling, back into the alleyway slamming his back against the brick wall. Jarek used his free hand to wrap around John's neck. Realizing that Jarek's feet were free, John; gun still forced into Jarek's shoulder, kicked his feet out from under him, by the ankle. Tilting Jarek over to his right side. When Jarek hit the ground the gun went of splattering John lightly with blood.

"AAH! AAH! You fuckin' shot me you son of a bitch!" Jarek's voice was wide and exhausted. Now his shoulder was bleeding. He couldn't move his left arm, but he wouldn't let go of the gun in his right. John had to hold it in as Jarek tried with all his strength to pull it out. John let go with one hand smashing it against Jarek's face - twice. When this didn't work, he let go completely, before Jarek could aim at Cage he was kicked in stomach... just below the center ribcage. The gun discharged, but only hit the wall behind John. Who jammed his foot down on the gun and kicked Jarek several more times in the stomach, then in the testicles. When the gun felt loose John slid his foot against it sending it away from him and bouncing off the wall behind.

Jarek, was too weak to move from the ground as John turned away to grab the gun.

"I'll kill you you fuck..." Jarek said through heavy lungs.

John slid the gun into his Jacket pocket, "No you won't."

Cage fled the scene heading straight out the front of the alley. He looked to his right, briefly; where Jarek had come from, and where he had been firing. There was a wounded person on the ground. Some kind of official, in tactical gear. Kevlar vest, the works. they were shot multiple times, whether unconscious or dead they couldn't see John. He continued forward. Straightening his shirt to conceal his weapon.

By the time he had gotten home, he was beat. He dropped his keys in a ceramic jar on the drawer next to the door. After locking his front door he pulled the gun from his pocket and set it down next to the jar.

"So this is how you're changing?" His head snapped over to find Anna staring at him, just feet from the door, and where he stood. "After all that talk and stuff... I don't even know what to say to you right now." Her voice was breaking, a rare occurrence. The lining of her eyelids were red, veiled in tears.

"You've been standing there." John pointed. His voice and mannerisms where anesthetic. John's coat, and part of his face were speckled with blood, especially near his right hand. He looked at it and the gun. "It's not what it looks like."

"And what does it look like?" she asked. "Huh? What does it look like, because I want you to explain it to me?"

John's hand shook his wrist nervously, it came up to his face pressing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger just below his brow-line. "I don't know."

"I came here thinking, in the back of my mind that I was going to give you another chance. That I loved you. But thought if I found another woman here or - or - I didn't like what I saw of what you were; drunk - high - whatever, that I would make up that stupid old excuse that the only reason I came here was to give you back your key. Because I might not like what I find. You know what? This is worse. She tried to leave but he grabbed her by the arm. "Let go of ME!" she said swinging her arm. "Why do you always do that?"

"Anna... I'm sorry. It's not as bad. This -" he said scanning himself with his hands. "It's not nearly as bad as it looks."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe it isn't. What exactly does that change, John?" she asked unlocking the door, "What explanation for that could possibly be good?"

"Hey!" he said before she could leave, "...My life is in danger..." he said desperately.

"That's another reason I can't do this with you. I'm sorry, Johnny, I can't watch you destroy yourself."

"I hate it when you call me Johnny" he said weakly.

As she left John felt an incredible empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. The door hung open, lonely light creeping in from the hallways. John swung the door shut so hard that it bounced back open two times, each time he angrily slammed his hand into it again. When it finally did close all the way, he beat it with his fist repeatedly. Before grabbing the jar from the desk and flinging it at his window. He missed and it hit the wall shattering.

He sat down on his love seat in the living room. It didn't last long before he rose, finding his way back to the counter and grabbing the gun - then back to the loveseat. He looked at it contemplatively before pressing it against his temple. 'Nah,' he thought. 'I'm not that type of guy.' He held it out in front to examine it again. 'What type of guy am I?' he asked himself. His eyes fell on a bottle of bourbon on the coffee table. 'I'm definitely that type of guy.' he thought, pouring himself a drink in an old cup. He took a sip. But his eyes found the gun again. He set the drink down and determinedly grabbed the gun, concealing it in his belt, he stood, finished his drink, and went straight to the door.

When he opened it two people where standing at it, dressed to the nines in tactical gear. One of them was Elizabeth, her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. The other, John recognized as the big black guy who was watching his conversation with Waterstone at the Anthem. They both had shining badges around their necks.

"We need to talk." Elizabeth said.

'Fuck.' John thought. 'I'm fucked.' the thought of shooting - and running - crossed his mind. Neither was realistic or even comprehensible to John, beyond a passing 'I could.' Knowing that 'Elizabeth' had lied to him was not only not concerning, he felt it was pretty obvious in retrospect. He wasn't about to become a fugitive, and whoever she was, he convinced himself; he still liked her. "Come on in." he said hospitably.

"If you've got a weapon on you John... now would be the time." she said softly.

He pulled the gun from his belt holding it out over the dresser, he let go, dropping it straight down. "That's it."

"Thanks, John." she said politely. Her partner looked to her awkwardly. Which she brifely registered then ignored.

"So Elizabeth, and... what's your partners name?"

"Sonya, actually, and this is Major Jackson Briggs."

"Well." John said saluting, "Major Briggs! Welcome - uh - sir." he tried to reach out and shake Jax's hand.

"Is he for real?" Jax asked her.

"Listen..." She paused awkwardly as John walked to the coffee table and grabbed the bourbon. "Listen, I uh..." he poured his drink.

"Do you guys want any? I've got a ton of this stuff."

Jax turned away from Cage toward Sonya, shoulder to shoulder, he spoke quietly "Listen, you're gonna have to do this differently, because he's starting to get on my nerves."

"When he gets that we're not her to persacute him he'll cooperate. We just need to -"

"Hey!" John said, both arms outstretched with glass in one and a bottle in the other. "I'm standing right here, what're you talking about?"

"You." she said succinctly.

"Did you want that drink?" he counteracted quickly.

"No." she said "Johnny -"

He smashed his glass into the coffee table. The outburst was over as quick as it began. "It's John." he said quietly.

"...John. You know you're in a lot of trouble." She said to him

He hugged his arms, nodding. "Yep."

"We've been tailing quite a few of the Black Dragon members that went to that robbery. Can you tell me if they knew whether or not they were followed?

"No." he said bluntly. "Or else if they did, they didn't say anything about it to me."

"We lost them on the way to robbery. But we found the van. Forensics said they pulled some prints off of it. It won't be long before we get the results." Sonya told him. He propped his hands on his waist and hung his head. "I need you to understand John. We're here to help you."

"So what, I get ten years in a maximum security prison instead fifteen, gee thanks. And how 'bout him. Why do you keep talking? Why doesn't he say anything?" he waved his hand at Jax. "Hey, hello?" he snapped his fingers, "Anybody there?"

"I'm the big black mothafucka; I stand here and look scary." Jax mocked, with a glare.

"Major Briggs is my supervisor. He's here to make sure this gets done"

"What gets done?" John asked.

" - That firefight cost the lives of at least three of my men. Kano, Kabal, Jarek, and all of those men are terrorists. They sell guns for heroin to Afganis on the watchlist. They attempted to bomb an FBI building Chicago. And they killed one of my men."

Jax reached into the arm-opening in his vest, pulling out several pictures, he handed them to John, he looked him in the eye briefly. John didn't take that as a good sign. Each picture was a black and white photograph. John saw only a bloated wet corpse. It was disgusting. Before he handed them back, he found the photograph of the hand. All of the fingers, excluding the thumb, were cut off, except for one. - The middle one. "Jesus Christ, I know this guy. I saw -" he looked up. The two of them were vague shades of sad and angry. He handed the pictures back, quieting his voice. "He was killed. Kano killed him - in front of me. I tried to stop him you know..."

"How would you like to try again?" Jax asked him firmly, tilting his head.

"What does that mean?" Cage asked eyes darting to both of them.

"We need you to be our CI." Sonya reliquished.

"Whoa - wait - CI?" Cage didn't get it.

"Yeah, criminal informant." She said.

"I'm not a criminal." he laughed, and lied. He may not have been Kabal. But pretty much nothing he had done in the last month - unrelated to film - was legal.

"Yeah, well originally, this was supposed to take months. We planned to get you based on your gambling debts. Then you participated in an armed robbery. - We figured Kano would pull you in but..."

"Wait, you guys think Kano had something to do with this?"

"Who else?" Sonya asked him.

"Kabal said this was all his."

"Shit!" Sonya drifted back for a second, but went almost immediately forward. "He told you that? It doesn't matter. It's simple, okay? You help us catch Kano, and you won't spend a day in prison."

"Yeah," Cage nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, sure. Okay."

"You'll also have to help me infiltrate the gang. I can't let you stick your neck out alone. Besides we need this to be solid."

"I think you guys are misunderstanding the the amount of influence I have. I don't 'work' with Kano. When I say; 'Hey Kano.' he says; 'Shut the fuck up.'

"We just locked up, Jarek, No Face, and Tasia. He's hurting for men. It won't be that hard to manipulate him you just have to follow - and do - exactly what I say."

Cage cut his hand across the air, "I'm not wearing ANY recording devices."

"That's fine, I'll handle that. We have a deal?"

"No time at all?"

"None at all."

"Okay." he shook her hand.


	10. One Life Spared

Ichiro lumbers down the steps of the Lin Kuei temple. Having just spoken to the Grandmaster. His brother waits at the bottom, practicing his martial arts, his hands flowing like water, his feet dropping from one end of him to the other. "And what did he say?" Niro asked.

"Nothing." Ichiro responded, "Just to congratulate me." He sat down on the steps.

"The Shirai Ryu have not retaliated, you think Hiroshi possibly might not have been in league with them?" As he spoke his moves became rougher more precise.

"I shudder to think… Considering." Ichiro glances through the glare of the sun between the clouds. "Is this you saying I told you so?"

"No." Niro said firmly, striking forward.

"You are a very stubborn man, my brother." Ichiro said standing.

"It runs in the family." Niro said. His serious face cracked a smirk as he continued to train, turning his back on his brother.

Ichiro closed his fist around air, and a blue aura formed through it, then he flung his hand forward. The snowball struck Niro in the back. Who turned to find his brother tossing another snowball into the air, catching it repeatedly, as if it were hard as stone.

"Is that how it is?" Niro said.

His brother smiled. "Uh-huh." He flung the snowball forward and Niro spun, his hand cutting diagonally across the air, by the time the move was finished, Niro had cut the ball in half – shattering it - with a sword of ice.

"You've gotten better." Ichiro said.

"I've been practicing." That's not all, he said holding up his hand. "Watch." His arms outstretched he breathed in slowly, and everything from his fingertips to his elbows turned a transparent blue, like glass, a wealth of steam rolling off of them. When he breathed out again they morphed back to their original state.

"What was that?" Ichiro asked, intrigued and impressed.

"I don't know. But it's getting stronger. - Enough time goes by, I fear I will be unable to control it."

A soft whip, as an arrow struck Niro in the back. He collapsed over his brother, who tried his best to hold him. Ichiro cupped Niro's head placing it gently against the snow. "SHIRAI RYU!" he screamed. As other Lin Kuei warriors spilled out of the temple. "Take my brother." He said to two of them, taking up the fallen sword. They pulled his brother up to the temple entrance.

Ichiro walked in the direction the arrow had come from, standing defiantly out in the open. He held the sword at his side, looking into the trees. His eyes rose horizontally scanning them from bottom left to upper right for any sign of enemies. "Are you on the ground? In the trees!" He screamed. "Where are you!" An arrow zoomed out of the woods toward his chest, he stuck it down with his weapon. "Cowards! You stabbed my brother in the back! I stand here, in the open as he did… I extend to you an offer, in all my hatred, the undeserved honor to face me like a man! Accept this honor or I swear by God I will wipe your clan from the face of this earth!"

A barrage of arrows exited the woods – at least ten of them. Ichiro spread his arms out quickly, and a wall of ice blocked each arrow before it could reach him.

"So be it."

Twenty five Lin Kuei warriors stormed the battlefield. The Shirai Ryu exited the woods, charging at them.

The field was strangely silent. There were not hoards of screaming men, voices echoing across canyons, only the individual and soft sound of footsteps crunching against snow.

One of the Shirai Ryu had his bow drawn as he ran, he released the string and the arrow between his fingertips shot straight for Ichiro, who rolled out of the way, an Ice figure of him shattered by the arrowhead. Ichiro flung his sword and it struck the warrior in the chest digging deep enough to pierce through to the other end. Ichi charged at him grabbing the sword by the handle, he drove him forward pushing the sword deeper until it struck the man behind Ichiro's victim. Knocking both men over he drove the sword in until he felt it touch the ground.

Heading on, the warrior in front of Ichi swung a spearhead on a rope towards him; almost like a grappling hook, it cut lightly through the left side of his left hand at the wrist below his pinky finger. The rope twirled around his wrist, tightening up. Ichiro stumbled forward as the warrior pulled at him. This warrior, using one hand to wrap the rope around the other arm brought Sub-Zero as close as he could, before drawing his blade.

A katana cut across where Ichi's neck would have been if he hadn't ducked. He wrapped his roped arm around the Ryu soldier's arm just under the shoulder locking away the katana. The soldier reached into his belt pulling some throwing knives nestled between his fingers. He jammed them into Ichiro's neck, jaw, and shoulder blades.

Ichi collapsed to his knees as the blood flowed across his right side. Around him the Lin Kuei were losing the battle. The two training houses had been raided, and many of the Lin Kuei warriors inside killed. The temple itself remained untouched. But the boy's quarters had been burnt to the ground by a force that had come up the other side of the mountain.

Ichiro reached up as his enemy's sword was raised above his head, it came down, temperatures lowered to the point that the katana broke like glass when it struck Ichiro's arms, shattering the rope around his wrist. Ichi stood, clasping his hands around the warrior's neck. His powers were not infinite, their extended use, and his blood loss during the battle had begun to weaken them. He poured all his energy into killing the man. His hands were cold as ice, transferring that energy to the man's throat.

He thought about how he would watch as the frost closed around the man's eyeball. How he would get revenge for what happened to his brother. He would close both fists together and watching this warrior's head shatter in front of him. He groaned like a raging animal, breath hissing from between his teeth.

"HANZO!" Ichiro heard one of the Ryu cry behind him.

Instead of frost closing around the man's eye, Ichi watched as blood poured into his whites around the pupil. Convinced, rightfully, that he was the only Lin Kuei warrior left on the battlefield, and that his powers weren't working fast enough. He pushed the warrior down into the snow, they both reached for the broken sword, the jagged edge still sharp.

Ichi's hand grasped the sword, he held it high above his head - WHAM

A jagged stone struck him from behind.

"Hibiki..." Hanzo said grasping his neck. "You - you saved my life."

Hibiki took the Lin Kuei warrior by the scruff of the collar tossing him down into the snow, he was conscious but weak.

"You fought with honor." Hibiki told him. "What is your name and title clansmen? That I may praise you and my victory after your death."

"My name is Ichiro, a master of this temple... - I have no surname... You killed - " he strained in his weakened state, "my brother."

"What's with the rock?" Hanzo asked.

"I lost my blades in the battle." Hibiki said. He held out his arm "Give me a sword!" he roared into the battlefield.

As a Ryu stepped forward to offer his sword to Hibiki, Hanzo stopped him. "No." Hibiki looked offended. "I'm sorry," Hanzo said, "These training grounds have been all but wiped out. The temple may be intact but the victory is ours. Now as you said he fought honorably, and lost - yet I have no blade - and you have no blade - it's fate. This man is meant to live."

"Kill me so that I may die with honor!" Ichiro screamed from his icy grave.

Hibiki's breath blew out in front of him. "It's cold out here." he said quietly. "Hasashi, you are frequently right. _You _fought this man, I will respect your wishes and spare his life. We need not be barbaric." Hibiki went along to signal his men.

"I killed your man inside the temple." Ichiro offered. "I murdered the Shirai Ryu spy. - Hiroshi! He confessed as much to me before I sliced off his head."

Hibiki went back, kneeling down, getting into Ichiro's face, he spoke barely above a whisper. "I know not what this... Hiroshi said to you before his death. But I can promise you he was not sent by us."

Sub-Zero raising his head as best he could, while Hibiki walked away; "You knew the location of the Lin Kuei temple!" Ichiro said in confusion. "He gave it to you!"

"We had to search for it." he said nonchalantly. "Should we take him prisoner?" He asked Hanzo.

"No, leave him. I'd like to get back to my family as soon as possible. Besides why spare him and take him prisoner? The people of the village would just have him executed. - If he doesn't die here we'll give him a chance to mourn the loss of his brother. I'd want at least as much if it were my family."

The two men as well as the other surviving Shirai Ryu from the battle made their way towards the mountain pass, behind them Ichiro screamed "I swear to you letting me live will be your end! I will take vengeance for my brother!..." His screams continued, loud, fierce determined. "A storm is coming!" He laughed heartily which morphed into a violent cough, "you can't make it through the pass alive! You hear me! You're all DEAD!"


	11. Friendships and Lunatics

"They're suiting up pretty hard." Sonya said getting into a black sedan. "Some serious shit is about to go down."

Jax took his coffee off the dashboard, "Looks like we're going."

"Looks like it." she said. He gives her a proud nod, and drops his coffee out the window.

Jax looks out the window towards the van parked outside Akira's. Kabal leads Johnny Cage into the back, a rifle strapped to his back. Jax immediately gets on the radio, "Dog this is Fox the item is on its way possible 211 staged, keep an eye out."

"Why isn't he getting in?" Sonya asked, glaring out the window.

A cackle over the radio, "This is Dog, I'm on it. Is there uh-an address for that 211?"

"I don't know," Jax said to Sonya, "maybe he's scared or something - they're just dragging him along or some shit, I don't know." into the radio; "Negative on that address Dog, you'll just have to shadow him to the location. Report to me and call for backup upon reaching their destination. Radio silence until then."

"Copy that Fox, out."

The van took off slowly ahead of them. Followed discreetly by an unmarked silver Monte Carlo. Once both vehicles were out of sight, Sonya and Jax exited their car and moved to the trunk.

"You really like this guy?" Jax said opening it. They pulled their badges from within dropping them around their necks.

"No I said - I didn't say that – What did I say? - When did I say that?" Despite her nervousness she managed to hide her embarrassment pretty well.

"No but you've been talking with him and stuff. Right?" he said strapping together his tactical vest. "Didn't you say something to me yesterday?"

"Well, I think I said I felt sorry for him, doesn't mean I'm in love with him." She takes an M4 and a Remington 870 out of the trunk, holding them up. "Which one do you want?"

Jax eyes fell to the 870, "Give me the Remington..." He gestured.

"Ah..." she said handing it to him, "Feeling powerful today."

"Always, baby." he said working it once, he checked inside to see if it was loaded. It wasn't. "You must be a pretty good actress if a trained actor couldn't tell you were lying."

"Well thank you Jax." She laughed, "He's not exactly Jack Nicholson. On top of that it's not like he has any reason to be suspicious."

"Then just a second ago, you were wondering why they took so long getting him into the van." She dropped her focus directly on him, like an anvil.

She closed the trunk, then shoved her ponytail through a baseball cap. "Am I missing something here Agent Briggs?" she asked confrontational, grabbing her rifle.

"All I'm saying is I've never seen you paying so much attention to a mark. It's not easy under the badge. Having to pretend you're into someone... the psychology of it - it's all mixed up." he said circling his fingers at his head.

"Are you saying I can't do my job?"

"Hey - What? Hey, no. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just trying to make it clear; he might not come out of this okay. You need to be prepared for that."

"Yeah, I know. You're right" she said calming down " - I mean - I am worried. - He's just some guy, you know. Besides the last one got killed."

"You mean Tobin."

"Yeah." she sat down on the bumper. She dropped the rifle between her legs, slumping over. "You know maybe you're right, maybe I can't do this."

"What hey! I didn't say that, damn when did you get so defeatist!"

"Everybody has their doubts Major Briggs. When friends and lovers start dying they tend to shake their way to the surface." she picked at her fingernails.

"Cut the Major Briggs bullshit, ain't nobody around."

They waited silently. Things were getting harder than they'd ever been for the two of them. Sonya's self-doubt, though understandable was not characteristic. Jax could understand perfectly though, he kept it together like the Lincoln Monument in a rainstorm. That was only because as her superior he had to. Jax was the kind of man that had everything boiling underneath the surface. If he got depressed he'd go home and drink in his easy chair until he fell asleep. He didn't break down easily.

Sonya despite having it together and being as professional as they come was more overtly emotional. It was never extreme. But unlike Jax's close-to-permanent poker face, you could usually tell what Sonya was thinking.

"Ay-yeah Fox?" the radio snapped.

"Yeah, Dog I'm in." Jax answered

"We lost the item around 26 and Fork."

He thought for a second about how to respond, his unit had never lost their mark before, unless they were made. "Did you call in locals for a drive-by?"

"I sure did, Fox, the locals have no unmarked cars present."

He rolled his eyes; slight, to one side, "Did you ever think to call in the coptor?" Jax asked; more annoyed with the situation than the way it was being handled.

"Negative, Fox… Wasn't on the menu."

"Alright Dog. Return to base."

"You got it."

Jax stewed in silent anger, lowering the mic slowly, "Damn." he felt like throwing the walkie, shattering it. "Looks like you don't have to worry about it now." he said to Sonya, "They lost 'em."

"I can hear." she laughed.

"Shit. Did you see the hardware they had? Whatever score they got they're just going to walk away. Just ain't right." he shook his head, "we shoulda put the tracking device on him when we had the chance." He insisted.

"We didn't have the chance, he woulda noticed that." Obviously they had had some debate about this before. Jax was convinced that putting a bug on Cage was the best possible course of action, but that would've involved Sonya getting closer to Cage than they had hoped for. He had placed her in command and she thought it was dangerous to move that quickly.

"Yeah you're probably right. Come on let's go get some fucking pancakes, I'm hungry." Jax said grabbing his keys.

She jumped up as they moved toward the front of the car, "Pancakes?"

"Yeah, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage - you know. What's a matter you don't like that stuff?" he said as he climbed into the front seat.

"No."

"You sure you're human?"

"Shut up Jax."

"Are you a vegetarian?"

"No, more like a meatetarian. My mom likes to say you don't get tits like this eating cauliflower." she looked down at them and mumbled under her breath "...Which reminds me, my back hurts."

"Yeah, I can see that." he said looking her over.

"Ugh-yuck don't be such a pervert. Jax."

"You brought it up." He lit up the ignition, and pulled away from the curb.

"Is that why you were asking me all that stuff about Johnny?" she asked in a slightly kinky voice for effect. "Are you...jealous?"

"No." he said watching the road.

"You are, you're jealous." She said it more like she was hoping it was the truth, than believing it was all along.

"No I'm not." flatly, "No, I don't look at you like that."

"You don't?"

He shook his head. "No I don't think of you like that. I mean, you got a great body and everything - don't get me wrong. Is just..."

"What why what's a matter." She took it as almost as an insult to her womanhood.

"Nah, you'll just think it's stupid." Eyes still glued to the road. – Clearly he didn't want to 'open up'.

"What! Come on! Te-ell meeee." her lips got pouty and she started poking his arm. "Pleaaase!"

"That, right there. That's what I'm talking about." She was always very relaxed with Jax they had a friendship that transcended their job. It usually didn't leak through unless nobody was around. But occasionally it did. In their line of work that closeness could get them in trouble, especially since it meant they weren't acting professional. In some ways, with each other, they behaved in ways which were not their nature.

She straightened up in her seat. "What?"

"You're more like a daughter or… something."

" Yeah - Closer to the 'something' based on the way you were looking at me earlier."

"That's true, but I can't help it I'm a man, you know." he shrugged, tilting one hand. 'Not like you ARE my daughter.' He thought.

"Geez Jax you're not that old are you?"

He looked over, "Wha to be your dad?"

"Yeah."

"No... sister then. - But you know I don't date white women anyway."

"JAX!" she smacked his shoulder.

"What? Shit! Don't take it personal."

"I'm not, it's just - never heard you talk that way before. Well why not? Since we're on the subject."

"I don't know, it's not like I chose it. Just never have before, and.. never been that interested, I guess. You don't have a preference?"

"Not really, he can't be shorter than I am - well I dated this one Asian guy who was shorter than me once so I guess that's not true either."

"Women?" Jax interjected with a smile.

"There you go, being perverted again. That's an orientation dumbass. Not a preference. How 'bout you Major Jackson? Any men in your 'rogues gallery'?"

His smile disappeared, "You'll never know." As she turned away to ponder this, a wider smile overtook his face. His phone vibrated, and he answered it immediately. "Yeah... You've gotta be fuckin kidding me!" Looking over, Sonya started to listen very carefully to him. "You know who? Yeah, right. Okay, right, yeah we'll be there." he hung up the phone dropping it on the floorboards.

"No Denny's?" raising her eyebrows; pretending to be upset.

"IHOP" he said turning the car around, "They found the bank Kano's robbing."

"It's a bank? How'd they find them, I thought they were heading back to base." The whole thing was confusing.

"They didn't, and they did, they got an anonymous tip. Aren't you glad you didn't take off your vest?"

"Fuck yeah, I am."

The two of them get within a block of the bank. Exiting the sedan. There are tactical vehicles hidden in nooks around them, ready to move at any moment, with more on the way.

Alan, a veteran of the squad approaches major Briggs, a walkie in his hand. "'Kay the van's down that way, in an allow down the lef-"

"Tell it to Sonya, she's in charge of this operation."

Alan looks at Jax for a second thumbing the antenna on his radio. Sonya looks at him too, briefly. He then responds with a nod. "Okay." Alan says. "The vans down that way." he points with the walkie-talkie "About three alley's worth of space between it. See it?"

"Yeah." she says straining her neck.

"Okay, there's a guy inside, but we don't know who he is. We haven't been able to get a good look at him."

"Did you put a unit on him?"

"We were waiting for your order, we can't see him from any place where he can't see us. So we didn't wanna spook 'im." his muscles relax, "What'dyou wanna do?"

"He's the driver?"

"That's what we're assuming yes. We can't actually confirm it's the same van, but as long as the tip is good It's likely that's what we're looking at."

"Put a - two units on it. Watch the alley from both ends. If the shooting starts and he takes off, go after him. If they get to the alley and the van takes off go after them - In fact if the van moves from that alley in either direction at all go after it."

"They've entered the building." Comes over the radio.

"Right let's go!" Sonya says, they swarm to the front of the bank.

Kabal and Jarek burst through the front door guns at the ready. Kabal points his rifle at the nearest security guard. "On the fucking ground, now!"

Jarek's pressed his rifle at a cashier's head, a young woman, red head, "Don't try the alarm." He said in coldly calm voice. "We turned them off. Now get out from behind the counter all of you!"

They all moved, Teddy and Tasia were grouping the customer's in a circle, Jarek lead the cashiers to the same place, adding them in. The red head started sobbing. Not a weak pitiful sob, more like a frantic nerve jumping shakiness. "Jesus, lady, calm down." Teddy said, trying to sound compassionate. "I'm sorry!" she said frightened, afraid she was going to be shot.

"One person does anything and you'll all be shot." Jarek says. This practically causes the woman to scream.

"Lady you have to be calm."

"Please don't shoot me!" she begs.

Jarek aims his rifle at her, "SHUT UP!"

"What the fuck are you doing." Teddy tries to restrain Jarek, who acts like he isn't even there.

"NO NO PLEASE!" the woman stands in a panic, not knowing what to do. Maybe she's trying to flee, but she doesn't move fast enough.

"That's it!" Jarek grabs her by the arm. Which causes her to stumble over.

"No please don't! Why! Why'reyou doing this to me!" he pulled her to her feet. Dragging her into the bathroom. Her screaming continues all the way inside.

Then it stopped.

There's a long drawn out silence. The only sound being bundles of money that Kabal slips into the bags they've brought.

After some time, Teddy turns to Tasia. "What do you think he's doing?" She gives him the look, and a cold feeling washes over him.

Jarek comes out of the bathroom. "What the fuck took you so long?" Kabal said, seriously pissed.

"I tied her up." he said, grabbing his bag.

"With what?" Teddy asked - maybe he shouldn't have.

"Who gives a shit!"

"OH! What the fuck is THIS!" They turned their attention to Kabal, who peers out the glass doors.

They all go to the front. Outside is a heavily armed police force. ATAACU scrawled across the back of their vests, on the side of their vans, and on their caps, in bright yellow.

Jarek pointed his rifle out the door, blasting away immediately. His bullets puncture the vest of one of the officers, striking his heart, killing him instantly.

"Are you fucking nuts!" Kabal screamed.

"Why don't you explain to me how we're getting out of here." He countered.

"Bullets strike the glass of the door, puncturing it. "I thought this shit was bullet proof." Kabal screamed.

"Guess not." Teddy said from behind them.

The three of them start to fire through the windows. Indiscriminately.

"GUYS!" Tasia yelled from the back. "There's a back door here, it's locked."

Teddy pats Kabal on the back and they moved away. Jarek continued to lay down fire.

"Who has the key to this?" Kabal asked the hostages. A man raised his hand. "Give it to me." The man didn't hesitate. Kabal grabbed him by the back of the neck. "You're coming with me."

"Please don't do anything to me." the man said, seemingly calm, though his face was red and his head was down.

"Believe it or not, it's not me you gotta worry about, friend." Kabal said pointing out the window, "It's them." He lead him toward the door, drawing his pistol. "Come on open it." the guy's hands shook as he tried.

Jarek - at the entrance - reloaded his weapon again, so Teddy immediately started firing through the broken glass.

"I can't," the guys said.

"What do you mean you can't?" Kabal asked him.

"I'm too nervous, my hands are shaking, I can't get the key in." he said pointedly.

Kabal took the key slipping it in, as the door flung open, an officer moved up the steps. Kabal's reaction was swift; without thinking, and without mercy. He put a bullet through the officer's head. As he tumbled down, Kabal grabbed his hostage and pushed him out head first. There were three more officer's frozen, they had been moving into position. "You mothefucker's follow me, the same shit'll happen to this poor bastard. T - get out here!"

Tasia backed out of the doorway taking position behind Kabal and his hostage. "Move." she said and they started out.

"Take me to your car." Kabal told the hostage.

Outside Sonya was firing into the bank from cover behind a land rover. She had ordered several of her men, a tactical unit, to make their way across the side of the building to the entrance, when they got there they were to toss tear gas through the windows. They moved into position.

One of them was just two feet from the entrance, he pulled the pin on his tear gas grenade. BAM! The sound echoed as if across canyons, the top of the man's head turned into a pink mist. and he tumbled down, landing on his own grenade, smoke billowing like hellfire from beneath him. The officer closest, on the other end of the door tried to retreat, but a bullet struck him in the belly. He continued to run for cover. Jarek fired from inside the building hitting the man in the back an additional four more times.

"Jesus CHRIST!" Sonya cried, jumping into the land rover, she got on the radio. "Sniper - Sniper" she said, "there's a sniper across the street. Search the building across the street!"

"Fuck this shit." Jarek said, grabbing a hostage of his own, "Pick one." he said to Teddy. Jarek grabbed the most frightened innocent looking woman he could. Teddy picked someone who was less likely to piss on themselves.

No Face made his way down the steps of the building, discarding his gloves and mask in a waste bin in the hallway. He was careful not to touch anything on his way down. When he got to the lobby he turned away from the desk and made his way toward the back door of the apartment.

When the door opened Jax pumped the shotgun, aiming it directly at his face. "Get on the ground." he demanded. No Face put up his hands, he had dropped the rifle out of the window into an open dumpster in the alley, he hoped they wouldn't find it - but he wasn't stupid.

Jarek and Teddy moved out of the building with their hostages. Jarek turned his around, pointing a handgun at her throat "You'll be walking backwards." he told her "You tell me if you see anybody. If your face tells me you see somebody you don't tell me about, I put a bullet in your neck. Somebody grabs me or you, or something happens to my partner, I put a bullet in your neck. If I see something reflected in your iris, that I don't like, I put a bullet in your neck. Now move." He pushed her forward.

Kabal and Tasia found their hostage's car in a closed parking lot to the right of the bank. "Give me the keys." Kabal demanded, and the man did. "Have a nice life he said setting him free."

He and Tasia entered the vehicle. Kabal put the keys in the ignition starting it up. It worked right away. And they pulled out. "Jesus-fucking-Christ what a shitstorm!" Kabal said as they rounded the corner away from the lot.

"What about Johnny Cage?" Tasia asked.

"Shit I forgot about him." they were about to come around to the alley he was sitting in, Kabal wondered if they shouldn't pick him up.

A car, to the right, ahead of them, a red limousine, pulled away from the side; blocking their path. Three men descended from the alley just behind it, firing into Kabal's tires. Then they aimed their weapons at Kabal and Tasia. As did the limo driver. They threw their hands up immediately. "Goddamn it." Kabal said with a scowl; like it was only a mild nuisance at worst.

"You've got the snipers into position." Sonya asked over the radio.

"Yeah." The response came.

"Okay." She said moving toward Teddy and Jarek.

"Where the fuck are we going?" Teddy asked.

"Where do you think dumbass?" Jarek responded. He had a rifle over the shoulder of his victim with his left hand and a handgun at the woman's throat.

Teddy had his pistol in his left hand pointed at the back of the hostages head and his rifle at the ready in his right.

He was just behind Jarek walking backward, crouched down slightly. They all moved cautiously.

Teddy saw Sonya following them. She wasn't hiding it, she walked with her weapons at her side, standing straight up, unthreatening, but still alert.

Teddy made it clear: "You keep up that distance, and I'm gonna shoot this guy."

She had no choice she fell back. "We already got Kabal, Tasia, No Face. - He was your sniper, right?" She asked to make it obvious she wasn't bullshitting. "It was on the radio. It's useless."

"Put your fuckin' guns down." Teddy demanded.

"I"m afraid I can't do that... what's your name?"

"Fuck you. - You can, you can - and you will or I will end this guy in front of me so help me god!"

They came to an empty pickup. "Okay, I won't put them down, but I'm moving away." Sonya backed away slowly.

"Get in the truck!" Teddy screamed to Jarek.

"Are you a fucking stupid or what, they planted this here. It's a fuckin' decoy." Whether it was true or not, he figured that was why Sonya was so quick to move away once they found it.

They were out of the circle of police; no longer surrounded. They had a minimal amount of ammo left, but Jarek figured with some suppressive fire, the two of them could make it to the van on foot. They let the hostages go.

Teddy opened fire on the the police, slinking left. Jarek ran behind him. All of the police who could see them opened fire, and some that couldn't.

As Jarek turned to lay down his fire and Teddy to move, Sonya, who was the closest to both of them, fired her weapon. A bullet struck Jarek's vest, puncturing it just underneath the ribcage. Teddy disappeared into an alleyway.

Jarek continued to fire, making his way toward the van.

It really was useless.


	12. Two Lives Taken

Niro awoke in the temple. A number of Lin Kuei surrounded him in the Grand Hall. As his eye lids fluttered, he could see only dark shadows of people, what little features that would have been visible, where blocked by his misty vision. "Wh-Where… is my – brother." He asked grabbing one of them by the sleeve.

"Niro," a voice said, "your brother has left."

"Why?" he asked.

Hanzo made his way down the side of the mountain with his men. The terrain had been rough, so they had to set up camp the night before. Now as they charge forward, an all out blizzard has gone into full effect. All but stopping them in their tracks.

Through the roars of the wind Hanzo, swore he heard the voice of a man screaming behind him. But he was at the end of the line. He turned to find a Lin Kuei warrior - a blue ninja behind him, his face covered. He drew a sword from the man ahead of him, but the warrior only put up his hands defensively.

"Ichiro?" Hanzo asked.

"No, my name is Niro. I've come to warn you. This storm," he said screaming over it, "it's my brother."

"What!"

"ICHIRO!" he said putting his hands up to block the snow. "Before you attacked the Lin Kuei, the Grandmaster gave my brother permission to order a raid on your village! That's one of the reasons we suffered such losses from your attack, the force had already left!"

"We came up both sides of the mountain!" Hanzo said skeptically.

"There's a path blocked by ice which only my brother and I can open. We share the sacred gift."

"You control the ice?" Hanzo asked remembering his fight with Ichiro. " - Like a god?"

"We _can _control it – Cryomancy."

"Sorcery." Hanzo assumed, this did not make him happy. Nothing despised him more than sorcerers.

"I don't know what it is! We just can. We always have."

"And he can do all this!" Hanzo asked gliding his hand up toward the sky, again he was skeptical.

"No, he's just making it worse. - Listen to me. For my brother and I, this is no different than walking on a beach on a sunny afternoon. When he discovered I was alive, he left immediately - through our passage. He's trying to stop you from getting to your village before you do!"

"Why?"

"Who is Hanzo? The temple Masters said Hanzo." Niro said looking around.

"I am Hanzo Hasashi." he said with an urgent nod.

"Then my brother has vowed to kill your family."

Hanzo was dumbfounded. "This!..." he said angrily grabbing the cloth across Niro's chest, "Is a trick!" he pointed his sword up at him.

"It is not." Niro said. "I have to make my way down the mountain, this path is the quickest, but if you go you'll freeze to death. I do not wish for our clan to be labeled murderers, killing without decency. Nor do I wish to have innocent blood shed for any reason. I ask permission to move ahead, to warn your family so that they may be spared."

"How do I know you're not Ichiro?" Hanzo asked him. Staring into his icy blue eyes.

Niro removed his mask. His face was similar to Ichiro's, but he was younger, his face was rounder and his nose wider.

Hanzo let go, then seemed to absent-mindedly stroll down the pathway, he turned around quickly, but still walking in the same direction. "You've been wasting my time telling me all of this, trying to stop me from returning to my village to give your brother a head start." He pointed his sword.

"I swear, I do not lie. You have to let me warn them."

"How can I know you plan to save them? You swore your sacred oath to bloody assassins."

"As did you hypocrite!" Niro fired back angrily, "I'm wounded, tired, and I'm down here trying to save the life of a man who very well may have tried to kill me. Coming to you alone after that assault, might as well be suicide, yet here I am." He said extending his arms. "Why?"

"What are we supposed to do!" Hanzo asked.

"I'll take you to a cave in the side of the mountain, you'll have to keep out of the snow, at least until the blizzard dies down."

"We'll have to find my men." Hanzo said out of annoyance. "They've pushed ahead without us."

"They could not have reached the cave yet." Niro insisted. "We'll make it but we have to hurry."

"Then let us not waste time."

Once they found the others, Niro grouped them into the cave at the face of the cliff. Then he warned them once again; "You cannot leave until the blizzard is over."

As he prepared to leave Hanzo grabbed him at the shoulder just below the neck. "How can I repay you?" he asked.

Niro looked at him. Then down into the snow, he sighed and his eyes pierced like Hanzo's spear, "Don't ever attack my people again." With that he ventured into the white out. Disappearing like a ghost through the bright white passage, framed by the pure darkness of the cave Hanzo now felt himself trapped in.

Kenshi heard, but more importantly felt the light ripple of feet slapping against the wooden floors. He had been sleeping, not at all unsoundly. He sat up wiping saliva from his mouth.

"How are you?" Yuki asked.

"Oh," he said scratching his head, "I had no idea you were here. I am fine. I suppoose. You've treated me very well. You and your husband are as kind as each other."

"We were not always kind people." he could sense her sitting down close to him. "We've had are problems. He likes to say I fixed him. - He forgets that we were so alike."

"If he feels that way then it must not be untrue."

"We fixed each other."

"Sounds like a hard task." he said admiringly.

"Not when you have a daughter to raise."

He laughed, "Actually - sounds even harder. So what were your problems, if you don't mind me asking?"

"No I don't... mind." The sound of feet continued to smack against the floor. "Hanzo's father was an assassin for Shirai Ryu." the stomping stopped "And I... I - you don't want to hear about me."

"Indeed I do." he said "I asked. Or is this... information indiscreet?"

"I've said more than I should have already." she whispered slightly "Maeko's listening."

As she got up, he felt the little one sit down in her place. "Mom has made tea."

"Wonderful." he said drooping his arms over his knees.

"You're blind?" she asked.

"Yes I am." he said.

"You can't see anything?" She knew what it meant, it was kind of hard for her to fathom.

"I've been seeing more than I expect." he admitted, "But not with my eyes."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"It's complicated."

"What about with your eyes?" Somehow he came under the impression that she was closing hers.

"It is daylight outside?" he asked.

"Yes." she said shuffling.

"If it's bright enough, I can make out the light, but that is all."

"So you can't see if I do this?"

He could sense her moving but couldn't tell what she was doing. He laughed "No."

"How about this?"

"No." He said laughing harder

"What about this!"

"Hey come on! I told you I can't see anything!"

"I'm just trying to make you laugh." she said drooping down contentedly.

"Mission accomplished." his muscles tightened across his back. "AH!"

"You okay?" she asked moving closer. "Want me to get my mom?"

"No," he said raising his hand. "It's my back, my back muscles are tightening."

"I know a plant for that, I'll be right back."

"That's not -" he heard her skitter across the floor. "necessary."

"She's very proactive." Yuki said handing him some tea "be careful, it's almost at the top."

"This a family traight?" he asked with a smile.

"No it isn't actually. I am very passive. My husband only reacts when he feels it's necessary. Though sometimes that means he is too late. Other times he makes rash decisions."

"Like joining the Shirai Ryu." he took a sip.

"Yes... precisely." she said quietly. "He used to do bad things, as I mentioned before. - But he never killed anyone, at least not that I was aware of. He was still a good person underneath."

"You don't feel that way now."

"I do. I do." she said immediately. "But now they... in an attempt to be a good person, a good husband; good father. He has made the decision to do something he would never have done before. The worst things imaginable, in order to be good - for us. So that we wouldn't starve. Murdering, for the Shirai Ryu."

"The world is a strange and unusual place. It keeps its own balance. A debt that we are not all aware of. You can't always do right." he insists.

"Do you think ill of his decision?"

"It would be wrong of me if I did. Did you see the sword I was carrying? I had another before that. Stained with blood, clean only by appearance. Many of the men I killed were my friends. Fellow swordsman, who wanted nothing but to prove themselves in battle. I refused anything less than the geniune blade. If your husband has only ever had a reason for killing, I have only killed needlessly."

"But they all knew?"

"I was only trying to prove myself - like they were. A futile business. Trying to prove you're better. What have I ultimately proven? That I am easily fooled. No matter how many others are doing the same; trying to validate your existence is not a good reason to kill someone. I needed not the sorcerer to be fooled, I had fooled myself already." he took another drink of the tea. "This is better than the tea I make. A feat, if I do say so."

"I killed someone." she said quickly.

Kenshi set his tea on the floor.

She sounded slightly distraught "When I was young. Only a few years older than Maeko. A man - boy, he was almost a man. Invited me into the woods. He was very kind to me. But some girls had gone missing and - and so - I panicked. I was afraid. I didn't know what he wanted. He didn't do anything bad, but... eventually he was dead. I didn't know how to handle myself. I don't remember breathing on the way back to the village. He could have been anybody. He might have been nice. Maybe he liked me."

"Maybe he was taking young girls into the woods and killing them." Kenshi interjected.

"This is the thing. I didn't wait for him to turn, I didn't bother to see if he was only pretending to be nice. I just killed him. The killing in the village stopped. I thought - I convinced myself maybe I had done the right thing. A few years ago, I heard of another village, where someone was doing the same thing - with the girls there."

"You think you scared him away."

"I've wondered it. - I was unkind to people before I met my husband. I'm still a bit of a loner. I try not to get close to people. I feel like a murderer."

"Did you ever kill again?"

"No... Under no circumstances."

"Then you are not a murderer. Believe me."

He could feel her soft gaze. "Thank you." she said, almost under her breath, it felt thunderous in his ears.

Maeko came trampling in. "Got it. I have it." she said collapsing next to him. "I don't know what it's called, but it grows just outside of town, at the base of the mountain. Here." she said handing it to him. He had to move his hand several times in order to find it.

It felt like a small weed. He tried to bite into it, but Maeko giggled. "You're supposed to put it in your tea." she said grabbing it from him.

"I'm sorry." he said feeling foolish.

"Why? I didn't tell you that." she said tearing up the plant. He was even able to hear the pieces dropping against the surface texture of the tea. "We wait a few minutes, it has to work properly. It tastes good too." she added. "I always put it in my tea. - You know... You are an interesting person." she told him.

"Am I?" he said amused. He wasn't so sure. He wondered to himself momentarily "Because I'm blind?"

"No." she said. "I don't know why..."

He thought nothing of it, "They say everyone has an aura." he said picking up the tea.

"Nah-ah" she said lowering his wrist, "I don't think it's ready yet. Give it a few more minutes."

Niro made his way down the last bit of the mountain. Unwrapping the scarf around his face. He looked off into the distance, but saw only wilderness. There was one beaten path, so he followed it.

He came under the realization that he did not know where the village was, or what it was called. As it housed members of a secret society, finding it might be a bit difficult. All he could do was keep going on the only path and hope that it lead in that general direction.

He wasn't so sure. He wondered if he could track his brother, or his men. But this seemed wishful thinking. They were trained to leave no traces behind. So were the Shirai Ryu, so following Hanzo's path back from the mountain seemed equally unlikely.

That's when it occured to him that he did have one piece of information he could use to his advantage.

"Excuse me." he said when he came across a traveling merchant. The man was stuffing something into a blanket on the back of an Ox.

The man came back around to the other side, pulling at a rope tied around the animal. It chewed away at grass between it's teeth. As the man walked he looked up at Niro, "Yes."

"I'm looking for a Hanzo Hasashi." he slid a satchel over his chest reaching into the pocket. "I have a letter for him, it's hugely important. Unfortunately for me, he seems to have moved. - " He took out a piece of parchment folded into a square holding it up. "Do you know what village he might be in."

"Such nonsense." the man said shaking his head. Hanzo Hasashi would never move.

"Maybe somebody just gave me the wrong information?" he said clutching the parchment at his waste, his thumb and forefinger of both hands, gripping it in front of him innocently. "I would appreciate the help." he said holding out his hands. He looked down at his feet.

The man hung his head. "That must be a letter from his father, huh?"

Niro sensed this was a test, but he knew not how to react, "No." he said bashfully.

"No..." the man said glaring into his eyes. "I suppose you aren't that stupid."

Niro blinked raising his head. "Your name is Hasashi?" Niro guessed, straightening up.

The old man shuffled his feet. Straightening himself, just as Niro had. "You going to kill me now?" he asked.

"On the contrary old man." he said putting away the parchment. "Only by fate could I have found you at this moment."

"You are Lin Kuei are you not?" the man asked him.

"I am, sir. I have come to do something very unlike our clan... What our clan has become. - I'm here to rescue your family."

"Why?" he asked.

"Please there isn't time. The Lin Kuei are going to raid the village. We have to warn your people."

"You're a spy?" the man asked.

"Not exactly - I must hurry. Which way is it!"

"It's down the path, to the right."

"Which house!" Niro asked desperately.

Ichiro entered the village. He looked around for a moment. There was almost no one outside, the clouds were gathering and many of the villages men had been trapped on the mountain. There were some kids playing in the street.

He was the first member of the Lin Kuei to make it into the village, the blizzard must have hit his men before they could make it down the path as well. They had also taken the longest route. He was isolated, and it felt that way.

But he was also determined, and he wasn't going to let the fear of death sway him from his task.

He could smell chicken cooking in one of the houses, as the sun sank down.

He grabbed one of the playing children by the arm.

"That's rude." the kid informed him.

"Sorry." he said letting go, "I wasn't sure how else to get your attention. Do you know where Hanzo lives?" Ichi asked him.

"Maeko's dad?" he looked over at a little girl standing near one of the houses on Ichi's right. "Actually - I-I don't think I'm supposed to tell you."

Ichiro looked over at the little girl. "Maeko?" he asked.

She ran into the hut. "Mom! MOM!" she said, with cautious alarm, "There's a man outside I don't recognize."

"What?" her mother asked.

"There's a man outside I don't recognize."

The mother stepped out onto the porch straightening her clothes.

BAM!

He had fired too fast, he would have assumed it would hit her stomach, but instead it pierced through the center of her chest. She fell over immediately. He, dropped the now cumbersome firearm into the mud in front of him. Water began to rain down on his head.

"MOM!" Maeko screamed inside.

Kenshi's head shot up and he moved behind himself, to the end of the room. "My sword, he asked, where is my sword!" He gave up on it, and ran towards Maeko, who was shivering in terror. He picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder. "Don't worry." he said. "I'll get you out of here. Do you see my sword?" he asked.

"NOOO-" she screamed. It was cut short by the sound of the blade sliding against flesh and scratching against bone. Kenshi could feel the sword jammed through his shoulder. When he brought his hand up to find where the blade had exited, he found it slice the skin between his fingertips, as his hand pressed against Maeko's chest... where her heart would be.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Ichiro asked him, pressing it in deeper.

He withdrew the blade, and the two of them fell over into slump upon the floor. Then dropping the sword, he fled from the house.

Niro found his brother in the rain, looking as guilty as he was, but without remorse. He simply looked surprised to see him.

Niro's eyes fell on the corpse of Hanzo's wife on the porch.

"Oh my god!" he said running to her. He examined to make sure she was dead, then he swung around. "How could you do this."

His brother never moved from his original spot. He stood static. With his head low.

He looked into the house. An injured man lay curled up in a ball holding a wound near his chest. He is breathing heavy, but not moving. Next to him is a young girl, stabbed through the heart.

He marched over angrily grabbing his brother from the back, shaking him. "Hiroshi was right! HE was right GODDAMN YOU!" he flung him around grabbing him by the collar. He wanted to ring his neck. - HOW could you do this! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!" he repeated it over and over, but his brother would not answer. Until Niro curled into a ball himself. Crying at his brothers feet.

In the rain. In the cold.


	13. Apocalypse Aphrodisiac

Johnny walked into the living room. His son was on the couch watching tv in his Punisher T-Shirt. John looked at him with a smile, ruffling his hair before going into the kitchen to grab some orange juice.

"Hey, son." he said unscrewing the cap.

"Hey dad." his son said, still glued to the tv.

"Where's your mom?"

"She went to get some air outside." he sat quietly for a few moments and then. "Dad..."

"Yes son?" he said spitting out a grunt, signifying the last of the OJ had just been downed.

"Can I see some of your medals?"

"Why would you want to see those?" He said coming from around the counter.

"Your badge then - how about your mixed martial arts trophies!"

"Alright son, you can see my trophies. Later we'll play some Sony together and - Ah fuck - CUT!" he sliced across his neck. "Cut come on, cut this crap." he dropped the empty juice carton on the couch next to the kid.

"Jesus Carlton, not in front of the kid." Nikols said.

"What's the problem?" asked the director.

"You call me Carlton again and I'll - I'll... I don't know steal your yogurt at lunch or something." John said to Nikols. They both laughed at the ridiculousness of this.

"Cage..." the director tried to get his attention. "What's the problem?"

"What's the problem, you were watching that -" he said pointing at the set "and you're asking me; what's the problem? This is the worst script I've ever read."

The director stared blankly at him.

"SCRIPT!" he yells. "Okay, so that's, maybe a little extreme," he waves to his assistant, who brings him the script with the page they're on, John points at it. "but look. See here. Sony. SONY for god sake."

"Yeah, and?"

"'Yeah, and?' - 'Yeah, and?'"

"Yeah, don't just parrot me you motherfucker, come on spit it out."

"Why is everybody cursing in front of this kid!" Nikols yells from the background. "His mom is gonna kill us."

John doesn't listen to him. "Okay, you see what's on the floor here, this is a Gamecube controller, a'right? A 'Sony' is fucking-nothing. There is a thing called a 'Sony Playstation'..."

"Yeah 'Sony -'"

"Ah, let me finish," he raised his finger, "let me spit it out. By NOW there are three of these fucking things. We're on number three. You either call it a PS3, or a Playstation 3, if you were going to abrievate it any more you might - *might* call it simply a Playstation but not a single fuckin' person on earth calls it a Sony. And you'd never use" he picks up the Gamecube controller "this to play it anyway. Later in the script it says we play Halo. On top of that being impossible with both this controller and the system we're supposed to be playing on... The shit you do have here," he bangs on the controller, "By now is dated anyway. Barring possibly using Tetris music and sound effects from Pac Man - which you probably will do in post - you managed to jam pack every fuckin' mistake movies make about video games into a page and a half of fuckin' script."

the director is dumbfounded "Well, that's..."

Who's the screenwriter? - Fire him." John says immediately. "He's an idiot."

"It's David." A temp says just off to the side.

"David?" Cage says, his head floating off to one side slightly, "David Chan?" he asked, as if it were revelatory.

"Yeah." came the response.

"Well don't fire him. - I guess. Tell him... to change the script - better yet, tell him not to write about stuff he doesn't know shit about."

"Yeah, except, drug cartels, the mafia, FBI agents, spies, war. - I can't believe you're obsessing over this pesky shit." The director told him.

"Well somebody fuckin' should be, the target demographic is what?; eighteen to twenty-five year olds? You think they don't know this shit?

"Hey Cage you play Halo?" the DP said, eye behind the lens.

"Yeah, why?" Cage asked cautiously.

"Nothing... Give me your gamertag after this, and we'll meet on the on the field." He challenged.

"Yeah, don't think I'll go easy on you though. - Because this is Sparta!"

"John are we going to do the scene?" the director asked him.

"No." he says emphatically. "You think that's the only thing that's wrong with it - that's just the tip of iceberg - the kid is a goddamn exposition machine." in a mock voice "'Daddy's a decorated war veteran. Daddy's a martial arts master. Daddy works for the government.'" he stops using the voice, "Daddy plays Halo on his Sony Gamcube!"

"It's not like we have a script!"

He did know that a script wasn't nailed down, still... he responded with "Yeah, then why the fuck are we filming. - The scene sucks. Tell David to write something else."

He walks off the set to get some water when a temp girl walks by probably nineteen. "Hey I'm single now you know." he says like it's conversation fuel.

She scoffs. "Every movie you've made since Sudden Violence is an apocalypse aphrodisiac." she says walking away.

'That's a good title for a movie.' he thinks drinking his water. he lifted his head "Though I'm not sure your word choice makes much sense!" he yelled. Then muttered; "for what you were - tryin' ta say..."

Sonya shoulders up next to him.

"Casanova Carlton. John... what are you doing?" she asked him.

"Making movies, isn't that what actors normally do?"

"Working actors do."

"I am a working actor, weren't you there at the Anthem when Waterstone gave me this deal? Because I thought it was your job to spy on me." he says spying her.

She propped her arms back, leaning against the table next to him. "So what's it about?"

"Fuck all." he said getting another cup. "We don't even have a script."

"That prepared huh? So that's how the professional movie business works?"

"It happens more often then you think."

In her propped up position, her head falls on her chest, inevitably pointing down. She looks at his hand. "John I didn't know you were married." a gold wedding band on his ring finger, it looks oddly familiar, but...

"I'm married to the business." he said crumpling up his paper cup, failing to acknowledge the substance of her observant query. He dropped the cup in the trash.

"Well you're married to us now." She says with a wry smile,

"Really, us? You and the big black guy, because if it was just you, I'd probably be pretty happy with that I think."

"I bet you would - You mean my partner - Jax. - He has a name." she smirked

"Now is 'partner' a loose term or is it kinda restricted?" he waved his hand in a kind of horizontal figure eight.

"My partner-in-crime." she insisted.

"Partner in crime! - Well you'd have to be committing crimes for that wouldn't you? But you're with the government. So... Does that make you like - partners-in-law? Because that sounds like - marriage - right?"

She rolls her head over to him. "John... shut up."

"Kay. I'm just saying the -" his eyes fall on her breasts "uh - well I must say; the white t-shirt and no bra is kind of an interesting," he clears his throat "fashion choice. There's kind of a stiff breeze blowing by isn't there?"

She crosses her arms over her chest "I hadn't noticed." she says normally.

"Uh-huh." he said nodding and scratching his chest. "I think I should sit down." he said leaning forward slightly. He sat on the table next to her. Her eyes glitter like snow in spring. It's hard not to look at her.

She lowered her head, "Cage... what is that look?"

"What look?" He asked without wavering.

She rubbed her chin against her shoulder, then propped it up; to look at him. The gaze between them is warm. "That one."

"I don't know how you want me to look." he said cracking a laugh.

"I don't 'want you to look' like anything. - John I know what you're thinking okay. - "

"You don't know what I'm thinking. - " he cut her off.

"I know what you're thinking. But you know it can't work like that."

"We could get... coffee or... something -"

"No we can't - John, not unless it's business."

"So why'd you come down here?"

Her head dropped, and she blew air out of her lips, ballooning her cheeks. "I came here... to tell you that we can't find Kano. We need your help."

"Well, I can't - I don't know where he would be. He's not at his club?"

"It doesn't look like it."

"Shit."

"There's something else... You said you had no idea where they were taking you during the robbery?"

"Yeah."

"Well somebody called in a tip before it went down. That's how we found you."

"I hate to get myself in deeper shit here. But if you're thinking it was me - it wasn't."

"That's honest..."

"I just don't want the shit catching up to me - if something else happens. I don't want to be caught lying."

"That's good John" she said almost proud. "We knew it couldn't have been you anyway. They would've been in the bank by the time you knew what they were doing."

"So who called it in?"

"Who else knew what was going on?"

"No-nobody, so far as I know."

"Then there's only one person I can think of."

"Kano!"

"It was probably some type of set-up. To turn our focus away from him."

"You guys weren't watching him too?"

"Yeah. He's got tunnels or something in the Anthem, it's hard to watch him anyway."

"What're you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"So all that stuff from before... in the coffee shop. That was all bullshit then?" he said changing the subject back.

"No." she said with a wide grin. "I was kinda just talking to you. - A lot easier than pretending." her left leg rocked back and forth.

"So you really don't like my movies either then?"

"Psh!" her mannerisms shifted suddenly from cocky to bashful, "I mean no" she gritted her teeth a second, then she looked up at him with guilty puppy dog eyes. "... I don't" she said playfully. She straightened her back "Except Sudden Violence. I suppose everyone likes that one."

"Yeah, everyone 'cept Roger Ebert."

"Well he doesn't know everything."

"Sometimes I wonder if he knows anything. Except every cliche in the book. People shouldn't be allowed to make a living judging movies - or movie stars for that matter. Unless they are one... - a very successful one... - Named John Cage."

She shook her head.

"No," he said, "I just don't get why those guys get to do that. It's not like he's proven that he can make a great movie."

"Well you know; Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art."

"That's insightful." he said impressed.

"Yeah it's actually a quote.: From Ralph Waldo Emerson. Probably not smart enough to think of something like that on my own."

"Yeah, I figured." he said

She jumped away from the table, "What!" she took a jab at him. "Come one Johnny boy, I bet I could kick your ass." she said energetically.

"Don't call me Johnny" he said.

"Come on." she took a swing. He managed to duck it. "Come on. I've been itchin' for this since I met you."

"The stunt matts not up." he said.

"Fuck the stunt matt. Come on, bitch. Let's do this, right here, right now."

"Them sounds like fightin' words." he said ducking another one of her punches and moving away from the table. He nearly knocked over the water cooler. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"As sure as you want to fuck me."

"So twice a day and four times on sundays!" he said trying to goad her.

The idea amused her as much as his saying it offended her, "You fuckin' tool." she took two more swings with each hand, and shot her right leg horizontally just past his head - because he managed to dodge all of it.

"Would you feel better if I told you I was only half joking." he said hopping up and down.

"What am I supposed to feel better about? That you still want to fuck me? Or that you only want to do it half as much."

He shrugged, "Whatever makes your glass half full."

"Hey!" the director said - they both relaxed. "Come one we got a movie to film."

"Sorry Ethan." Cage said. He and Sonya were breathing pretty heavy.

"That was fun." Sonya said with a smile.

"A little more sweat and we would have had ourselves a wet T-shirt contest." Cage said pointing.

She looked down at her chest, stiffening up; trying to crack her back "Yeah, like I would need to break a sweat for you."

"You're pretty good." The director said. "Want to be in a movie?"

She looked at him, then at the stage, and back at him. "I'm on duty." she said, turning around to walk away. Cage built up an upproarious laugh behind her, mostly because of how bad she had told him off.

"Shut up." he said to Cage. "You're just a movie star. Get back on set."

They start walking back.

"'Want to be in a movie?'" Cage mocks.

"Fuck you. - She could've been the love interest."

"Doesn't she die on page two?"

"There's NO script!"

Cage burst into laughter again.

Kano stands in the sunlit grass, holding a teddy bear, a cigarette between his teeth. The bear has a velvety red bowtie on. He yanks on one end of it, looking into the bear's marble brown iris.

His niece Alessa comes over, he removes the cigarette, leaning down, to give her a hug. He's not real affectionate, but the hug is firm. "There you go." he says, "I got you that."

She turns, facing the rest of the family as he puts his arm around her. Her face falls quiet and she fidgets with the teddy bear. "What's a matter you don't like it?"

She looks up at him, having to squint because of the glare of the sun. "Huh?"

"You don't like your present?" he asked, "It's for your birthday."

"I know... I'm kinda old for a teddy bear."

"Yeah?" he said taking it from her. There's a short pause. "Well what do you want instead?"

She has to think briefly "...How about a computer?"

"Done." he says

She smiles brightly. Taking the teddy bear.

He looks, confused, at her, "I thought you didn't want the teddy bear."

"No I like teddy bears. I have a collection in my room."

They all start laughing.

Through most of the party Kano sat at a table, a single glass of whiskey in front of him. Thoughts running like water in his head. Only stopping to take a sip when he realized his glass was still there. Puffing away on cigarettes like they were in an unlimited supply.

Most of the family are afraid to talk to him. The ones that are willing are the few he counts on to help him with his business from time to time. As a result they don't want to be seen associating with him in front of the rest of the family.

Alessa comes to sit at the table, she's quiet like he is. But it's obvious she wants to talk to him. She scoots her chair up closer to the table. He puts his cigarette out, blowing smoke up into the patio umbrella.

She stares at him intensly, for a few brief moments.

"What?" he asks curiously, he takes a sip of his whiskey.

"How come no one ever talks to you?" she asked.

"Have you ever asked them?" two of his fingers hover across the crowd.

"They won't tell me."

"What do you think?"

She shrugged, "You've always been nice to me."

"I have?" he asked like it was surprising.

"Yeah." she said reassuredly.

"Well... What makes you think I'd tell you?" he wondered aloud.

"I don't know. - Why? - You're not?" she sounded dissapointed, fidgeting with the empty plate in front of her.

"Here I'll put it this way... See that?" she looks over. Many of the family members are silently glancing over at them. Watching carefully. "They wouldn't be acting that way unless there was a good reason."

"What reason?"

"I'm a bad person he said." without even a change of expression, he leaned back in his chair. "They're all afraid I'm going to leave some kind of impression on you. Mold you like you're made of playdough. Maybe they're just worried I'll scare you or something." he said lighting up another cigarette."

"What kind of bad person?"

He flicked some ash off the table, "I don't know how to answer that."

"Did you steal something, did you kill people..."

"Both." he said with a stiff look. "Why'reyou afraid of me now?"

"No." she said, she shifts slightly in her seat. "Can I see your gun?"

He looks over at the gawking family members. "Sure." he said taking it out and setting it on the table. His pistol was a nickel-plated .45.

She looked at it briefly, smirking a bit. "That's so cool." the smirk faded, "Did you kill people with this gun?"

"Yes." he admitted like it was nothing.

"Um... Can I hold it?"

The family members are discussing amongst themselves whether or not to interfere, much to his amusement. "Sure you can." She reached over for it. "Wait a minute." he said grabbing the gun. He slid out the clip setting it next to his whiskey then he pulled back the slide looking into the chamber, and for good measure; he clicked the safety on. "There." he said setting it down in front of her. "It's heavy as shit though. - Imagine what it's like when it has bullets in it."

She slid it into a more 'upright' looking position from her perspective. When she lifted it, the gun barely fit in her hands. She beamed "Wow, that is heavy."

"Told you." he said, cigarette still in his mouth as he leaned forward. He pointed to various parts of the gun. "That's where the clip goes. This here releases it" he said. "That top part there slides back. It's where the bullet enters the chamber from the clip. You can put a full clip, and then slide that back and dump a round in there. Most people don't do that. - It can jam the gun. If you don't know what the trigger is... you've probably never seen a movie in your life. That's the safety; keeps you from blowing your damn toes off. And that back there's the hammer. You pull it back to cock the gun. Unlike in the movies, you only actually need to do that once. - When you pull the trigger the hammer hits the blasting cap and 'bang'. It's like a metal firecracker that's directed by pressure. Since the impact comes from one end and there's only one opening..."

"Yeah, I know." she said "They explained it in Willy Wonka..." she was hypnotized by it "Can I keep it."

"Yeah, okay." he said nonchalontly. "I'll have to show you how to use a gun. We'll go to the firing range sometime. You won't get to use this though, we'll get you something smaller. Okay?"

She nodded, holding the gun like the Holy Grail. "I still get to keep it though?"

"Yeah of course..." there's another quiet moment. "None of this makes you want to be like me, does it?"

Her eyebrows sunk. "No." she said seriously. "No it's just interesting that's all."

"So what do you want to be like?"

She lifted her head. "A writer... I think. Maybe a journalist. I'm easily fascinated..."

"I can see that." he said lifting the cigarette to his lips. "Do you write a lot?" he asked her looking off into the neighbors yard.

"Sometimes." she said quietly.

Kano's cousin Katsuro came over. "Kano what are you doing you can't j-"

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do cousin."

"She's an impressionable kid sh-"

"She's just interested, I'm giving her a birthday present. Right Alessa?"

"Yeah! This is awesome." she pointed the gun.

"Be careful with that," Katsuro said, "it's dangerous."

"It's not loaded..." Kano glared at him murderously. Fraught with such violent intensity it chilled the very air around them. "You insult me, my cousin. You think I'm stupid enough to give my niece a loaded gun."

"I don't know." Katsuro said without thinking.

"You don't know?" Kano jumped forward in his seat, "You don't know?" he stood grabbing his cousin by the collar. Katsuro, stunned by Kano's outburst, tried to rebalance himself, accidently knocking a glass of the table. "Come here!" Kano said pulling him through the backyard.

He tossed him at the gate, knocking it through. Katsuro fell on the stone walkway. He lifted himself trying to run for his SUV. BAM! Kano pulled his gun, firing a bullet through Katsuro's tire.

Katsuro tried to go right, but a bullet shattered the rear-right window, then left, but a bullet pierced the passenger side window. He was trapped, cornered at the center of his own vehicle. He pleaded, "Please Kano I - " Kano raised his gun charging at him "Why are you doing this!" Kano struck him in the face with the weapon, knocking him to the ground.

Katsuro struggled, trying to lift himself, Kano pointed the gun "Fuckin' stay down there!" he ordered. He kicked Katsuro in the ribs, twice, shattering multiple ribs both times. "You fuckin' hypocrite! Fuck you!" Kano said spitting in his face. "I should kill you right here in front of everybody!"

He stood in the sterile driveway, his cousin bloody and beaten next to a battered car, gun in hand, onlookers gawking from behind the main gate. He looked over to them, the family. "Tell my sister I had to leave." he said wiping his mouth.

It didn't take him much longer than that sentence to get into his car and pull away.

He met with his contact Sejad, a Bosnian man. "Hello, Kano." Sejad greeted, shaking his hand, "It's been awhile."

"Yeah, I got held up at my nieces birthday party."

"I meant since I seen you?"

"Right of course... Bunch of fuckin' hypocrites - my family. They're all afraid of me like I'd just murder all of them - on a whim. Sit there stonefaced. Can tell just by looking at them; they want to ask me never to come back, then if they did, they wouldn't be able to take my money."

"The eye is in the east."

"The Eye of Shitian?"

"That's what you were looking for right?" Sejad asked.

"Yeah."

"It's in India, right now. Some guy in Russia bought it, they're shipping it to his house."

"It's real?"

"Who knows. The guy paid millions for it. They're trying to avoid problems in the mid east, so they're going to go through China, Mongolia, Russia, in that order."

"Problems?"

"These guys aren't any more straight then you are. They stole the eye from an exhibition in New Zealand, don't ask me how they managed to pull that one off. Word is they got some pissed off friends in Pakistan. They're trying to avoid them."

"Yeah, okay, give me the passport." he said raising his hand. He recieved it immediately, along with a first class ticket.

"You're doing this one on your own?"

"I have to." Kano said plainly. "It's fine, I planned it that way. I've got some friends down there who owe me a favor, so I won't be alone."

"Your really think the eye does anything?"

"Well," he said jamming the tickets in his back pocket "we'll soon find out."

"You're a very superstituous man." Sejad said with a smile.

"Like it really matters, the thing is worth millions anyway." Kano shook his hand again, as a goodbye "How much money did I owe you?"

"About..."

Kano pulled a gun pointing it at the Sejad's face. He was stunned. "Nah, I'm just fuckin' with ya'." he put the gun back... "Industry humor." the Sejad sighed with relief, "Hey calm down, man, lighten up."

"Don't ever do that again." his contact said with a smile. "Scared the shit out of me."

"What did you say?" Kano looks very serious, there's an incredibly uneven pause.

"Eh... nothing." he said wisely.

"Good." Kano pulled open the back door to his car, grabbing a briefcase inside, he slid it out dropping it on the ground. "There's your money." Kano said, getting inside. "Spend it wisely."

Jax removed his binoculars, pulling the headphones off, and tossing the directional microphone in the back seat. He looked at Kano's car as it pulled out, taking careful note of the licence plate. "Gotcha' you fucker."


End file.
